NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The majority of persons in the Central Abaco shelters were from the Haitian community, according to Bahamas Abaco Red Cross Administrator and Central Abaco Shelter Manager, Christine Lightbourne.
“A lot of them came from what they call the Haitian Village, the new area that they call the unregulated homes,” Lightbourne said.
“Most of them were out of there. I’ll roughly say about 75 percent of them were from there.”
She said shelters in Abaco have been deactivated, and shelter workers said that they began seeing people leave as early as Wednesday night, with the last few of the sheltered trickling out around 1pm on Thursday afternoon.
Lightbourne explained that after the weather cleared up, people left the shelters swiftly. At Central Abaco Primary, where she was stationed, the first group left around 6:35 pm on Wednesday night, when the count was at 99 and by Thursday morning around 8 a.m. there were no occupants in the shelter.
“We had no major issues we remained on at Abaco Central Primary we never lost power the occupants that were there, we had up to 305 registered shelterees. […] everything was peaceful there were no incidents to report.”
In unofficial shelters, she said there were about 15 or 20 persons staying in the Faith Walk and eight persons from the overflow in two classrooms at the Patrick Bethel which she said is a low-lying area, however because of the turnout of persons seeking shelter they decided to let them stay there.
The Red Cross Administrator said that many people told shelter attendants that they came because of the weather, because they were living in vulnerable areas, and out of fear of reliving the trauma from Hurricane Dorian.
“That was their greatest fear, they don’t take it lightly now having gone through Dorian.”
Lightbourne added that they would have kept the shelters open if the need persisted, however, because the majority of people made their way back to their residences they decided to fully close the shelters.
“If we had a large amount of persons who said they had nowhere to go they can’t go nowhere we would have to stay with them until they can make arrangements because as a shelter manager, I remember in Floyd we had that displacement […] they had to actually see if they could have gotten somebody a building to continue with the sheltering of persons who were completely displaced, and we stayed open for over a month,” she said.
Senior Welfare Officer from the Department of Social Services Tonelle Cornish, said that the people in the shelter were grateful that the storm moved on quickly. Therefore, they received minimal damage to their homes and were not stuck in the shelters. She said the main goal was to provide assistance to those in need.
“When its a disaster or a storm time we cannot look at or treat persons differently because we are all human beings and then we want to ensure that you be neighborly and helpful because at the end of the day, you go in there and that person may be the one to save your life.
“If we come across any irregularity or someone who is in need, then we will do further assessment to ensure that that person is assisted.”
Cornish said that although many of those staying in the shelters were from the Haitian community they would not be screening them for documentation and reporting them as they seek food and shelter.
She explained that just like doctors have an oath, they do as well. However, she said when you talk about long-term assistance where documentation is needed, they point individuals in the direction of organizations that can.
“Because with that (Social services assistance), you have to have proof of documentation and present your light bill, your water bill, different documents, and what have you for the long term.
“That’s not our job description, our job is to provide the initial help. If in fact this is something that is beyond us, because we have rules and regulations […] then that person would be referred to the Red Cross or perhaps one of the churches or one of the other organizations or agencies who assist,” Cornish said.
