Chief posted:

In the meantime where is our friend Vishnu? 

Is this boy hiding or is he tired?

 

He is neither hiding nor tired

He does not No Show to planned meeting

caribny posted:

ksazma posted:

. Plus cash is easier to find itself into the wrong hands.

As we speak goods can also end up in the wrong hands. Often stolen/looted from warehouses and sold at black market prices. Especially in situations which are as desperate as in what we now see in PR, the VI, St Maarten and Dominica.

The main advantage of cash is that it allows those providing help to respond to needs as they quickly emerge, and aren't reliant on what people send down.

No doubt goods can also end up in the wrong hands but it is not as easy or prevalent as cash would be. Not discouraging cash donations but just stating an ugly truth about scam activities during disaster reliefs.

Vish M posted:

Chief posted:

In the meantime where is our friend Vishnu? 

Is this boy hiding or is he tired?

 

He is neither hiding nor tired

He does not No Show to planned meeting

 

Bro,

I called Kari and explained what happened.My mom was not well and had to rush to be by her side. As discussed I was also not comfortable without a Jacket.

I heard you took a picture with our President. Good for you!

ksazma posted:

caribny posted:

ksazma posted:

. Plus cash is easier to find itself into the wrong hands.

As we speak goods can also end up in the wrong hands. Often stolen/looted from warehouses and sold at black market prices. Especially in situations which are as desperate as in what we now see in PR, the VI, St Maarten and Dominica.

The main advantage of cash is that it allows those providing help to respond to needs as they quickly emerge, and aren't reliant on what people send down.

No doubt goods can also end up in the wrong hands but it is not as easy or prevalent as cash would be. Not discouraging cash donations but just stating an ugly truth about scam activities during disaster reliefs.

You just have to do your research. Unless you personally distribute the items you really don't know where they end up.  In Haiti it was a huge fiasco where items were sold by government officials on the black market. Granted that Haiti is a special case.  But in all of these islands there has been looting with some black market activity by the not so upstanding citizens.

Since then I try to find a local group, not directly connected to government officials which has some credibility and a track record.  Not fail safe but then nothing is.  In the case of Haiti some people who I personally knew were going down to Haiti to do some voluntary work.  These were architects and engineers.

While bottles of water are important in the initial days other things become important, especially when you hear that the hospital was destroyed and diabetics and others have no medications.  Or that water systems aren't functioning properly so purification mechanisms are needed to be handed out to people.  Chances are that they cannot boil their water.

PM Skerrits doing a good job so far.

Chief posted:

PM Skerrits doing a good job so far.

He seems to be.  Dominica, with no help from any one, seems to be making more progress than Puerto Rico even though it should be worse off.  You are fully aware of the terrain of that island so you know how damaging mudslides there can be as they roar down those steep valleys.

Its also one of the poorest and least developed Caribbean countries.  But I guess Dominicans are accustomed to this. Just two years ago they had Erika and in the late 70s two Cat 4 hurricanes hit that island weeks apart. They lost most of their economy then, and just as they recovered its happened once again. And to add salt to the wound lots of Dominicans also live in places like St Maarten, Tortola, and St Thomas so their relatives cannot even help them recover.

I have a lot of respect for their resilience.

I also have to give props to LIAT.  They are allowing people who wish to evacuate to live FREE if seats are available.  They have daily relief flights from Antigua and Barbados bringing supplies.  Its also good that other Caribbean countries are helping them. St Lucia sent linesmen to get their power up.  T&T sent some army personnel to help with search and rescue and road clearance and St Kitts has sent them US$ 500,000. Antigua is also helping them as are several of the larger CARICOM corporations, including some from Guyana.