Montserrat, August 11, 1995
Camp Lightfoot- Montserrat Tent City in Antigua?
The Government of Antigua and Barbuda is today presenting the British
Government with a blueprint for a Montserrat tent city.
The Antigua connection is phase two of an inter-agency plan which will be only
activated if it becomes necessary for the authorities to order a full scale
evacuation of the island.
Antigua and Barbuda Government Minister Hilroy Humphreys announced this
week that they have decided to develop Camp Lightfoot into a tent city as a
holding area for evacuees from Montserrat.
Camp Lightfoot is an area of around two-million square feet of land owned by
the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force.
Mr. Philmore Mullins logistics of Disaster Services, said the area will have to be
graded, access roads will also have to be put in and arrangements will have to
be made for garbage collection.
According to Mullins, special reception centres will also be set up at all of the
island’s ports of entry. He said they were also pre-positioning equipment so that
‘when Montserrat says go, we will be ready.’
“We are thinking in terms of a holding area in case something happens
overnight,” Mr. Humpreys told reporters. He said they were also bearing in mind
the fact that schools will reopen in September, ‘so we have to look at alternative
areas because I believe that the Governments of St. Kitts and Guadeloupe have
said yes we would take some of your people but it would end on the day school
reopens.’ “We in Antigua can’t say that, so basically our plan right now is to look
at all the costs and present the plan to the British Government,” he said.
The Antigua and Barbuda Minister said the plan will also include provision for
the dietary needs of potential evacuees for an extended period. Humphreys
assured that if the evacuees are required to stay longer than six months it will
not pose a problem because the ‘school system and social services are
adequate to sustain additional persons.’ ‘In terms of the social services being
affected, I don’t see a problem because a total evacuation also means that
nurses and doctors from Montserrat will be here too,” he said. He also revealed
that they are looking at areas including factory shells where schools may be
housed.
Meantime as the Government of Montserrat continues the build-up in the North
of the Island, official sources are reporting that the volcanic activity over the last
four weeks has dealt a serious blow to the government’s coffers.
One source said that contingency plans may have already wiped out all the
savings government accumulated over the past year. It said government also
feared that the activity could adversely impact projected revenue for the
remainder of the year.
On the ground this week, scientists reported little or no significant change in
activity.
As a result, residents from six villages stretching from Farms to Long Ground
were given the all clear to return home, one week after they were evacuated
under the threat of a volcanic eruption. Last night Chief Minister Reuben Meade
reported that only low frequency tremors were recorded on Thursday. He said
six were located under the soufriere hills while the others including one which
was felt in Plymouth were scattered over a wide area north east to north-west of
St. Georges Hill.
Referring to increased noise levels in the Tar River area, he said it is not a
cause for concern and does not indicate increased signs of volcanic activity.
Meade explained that from time to time ‘you will find that parts of the hill slide
into the vent and partially block it and because it’s blocked off it increases the
noise level.’
But although the Chief Minister advised that it was not an activity which should
be unduly worrying for residents in the area, some residents declaring that the
noise had reached unbearable proportions spent Thursday night with friends
and relatives in the north of the island.
Meantime reports from Geralds say that heavy rains and high winds over the
last few days have disturbed the stays of the tents.
Earlier reports had suggested that the authorities were awaiting additional
equipment to steady the tents which will be used in phase-one of a large scale
evacuation.
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