Several families were left displaced following a devastating fire the occurred in Bailey Town, Bimini earlier this month.
Member of Parliament for Bimini and the Berry Islands, Randy Rolle spoke with ZNS News on relief efforts. He said, “we’ve been in close contact with all of the individuals through my office as well as that of social services, so Ms. Russell who is in charge of social services here. I’ve been in contact with the minister of social services, Minister Barbara Cartwright who has been very accommodating. We’ve been able to get a lot of resources from them and so we’re very pleased with our process to date.”
Local and international organizations have donated to the fire victims. Rolle said, “the support has been amazing. Not only has persons reached out from Grand Bahama, Nassau, but also internationally. As you know, last week Wednesday I also went down with Bishop Neil Ellis and we had a service in Miami and so there’s some money that was raised for victims as well.”
In addition to providing relief, the government has also provided firefighting equipment to the island. Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, the Hon. McKell Bonaby along with officials of the Disaster Risk Management Authority traveled to Bimini where they presented $50,000 of equipment aimed at strengthening the island’s emergency response.
Minister Bonaby said, “we are here with the member of parliament for the area, Member of Parliament, Randy Rolle who has advocated for major changes within his constituency and this is just one small step towards the changes that are needed. With our firefighting apparatuses that we have that we’re now handing over to the administrators here, to the police here on this island to ensure that they are in a much better position to fight fires should the need arise. The value of the assets that are presented here, firstly, I would like to say that its priceless. The range is about $50,000 approximately.”
According to Rolle more initiatives will role out in the coming weeks as government agencies and community organizations work together to assist fire victims.
