Recovery Message from The Honourable Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson - Premier of The Turks and Caicos Island

The devastation that hit TCI in September 2017 will no time soon be forgotten. The physical scars remain visible and likewise the emotional scars and strings continue to tug at our heart and as I walk in to this room and I saw the images that are posted on the wall (of the damage impact) I am sure that those of you who would have also experienced (Hurricanes Irma and Maria) we immediately started having flash backs.

But no one could truthfully prepare for the devastation brought by the two hurricanes, particularly Hurricane Irma which saw unprecedented or never before seen damage on every inhabited island in our chain. What was perhaps the single greatest challenge was the damage to our communication systems and its eventual failing. For us as a Government this together with our restricted ability to move throughout the islands really frustrated us.

These two factors lay bare our unique challenges as a multi-island nation. Though challenged, many of us were just grateful to be alive and to have no lives lost. We remain grateful to God. And as my pastor once said we were grateful that we were going to garbage site and not grave yards. The damages could not compare though, to the resilient    spirit that emerged amongst all the peoples of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

We saw unprecedented external and internal support that must be credited for our ability to get through the early recovery stage.

I must thank and celebrate the Director and staff of DDME who has been celebrated around the region for her leadership and coordination of events. I thank my ministerial and cabinet colleagues for the quick decisions that lead to a swift early recovery. I must thank again all the local and regional organizations, the public service, regional and international Governments and private citizens from countries far and wide.

Today we begin another phase, and whilst we have been carrying out recovery works with the introduction of critical post, repair to government building and other post-hurricane recovery efforts, today we present the finalization of a plan that will guide us over the next five years and not just rebuilding, but in rebuilding better.

I wish to thank the Permanent Secretary of Education, Mr. Wesley Clerveaux for his leadership of the Recovery Task Force. And I wish to thank all the members who have contributed to this phase. Much time and resources has brought us to this place and thank you to the public office who like wise made submissions on behalf of their Departments and Ministries.

Again our partnership with the private sector has yielded fruit and there are those who offered assistance and participated in the development of this plan, and for this we are grateful. I must of course thank CARICAD who for the second time in recent years has assisted the Turks and Caicos Islands with the development of a Recovery Plan. Following this, we will complete an implementation plan, already in draft and establish a unit dedicated to the carrying out of this plan. 

Team work will be key going forward.   We will ensure that our people are engaged every step of the way and will begin consultation on this plan once costed and properly staged. This is our plan, and we must own it as citizens and see the critical work that must be done that will assist us in building a more resilient country. I will say it is a long road ahead and we must acknowledge this. There will be continued planning’s and costing’s and actions of course will be based on our resources.

Climate Change is real and we must do what we can and we must do what we must to withstand the adverse effects. We have a golden opportunity to rebuild our country and this we welcome and all of us should welcome with enthusiasm. As you can imagine my Government and I are elated and we welcome this critical plan that will set the continued rebuilding efforts of our country.