He noted that he spent the greater part of Sunday signing advanced payments for the victims.

“Each payment is an advance warrant which has to be signed and has to go down to the treasury,” the Territory’s leader said at the 1^st Sitting of the Fourth Session of the First House of Assembly today, Thursday October 21, 2010, during the question and answer segment.

“We are giving people the assistance…as you do know we have to be transparent as possible,” the Premier continued.

The Disaster Relief purse has $3,177,372.48 in which $95,000 has been used in 2010, according to Premier O’Neal.

Eighty thousand dollars went towards Haiti, following the deadly earthquake earlier this year which left thousands dead, while $10,000 was allocated to Gina Pickering, a fire victim.

Another $5,000 was given to a flood victim, Idalia Wharton-Hodge, the Premier said.

He added that it is also possible that money from the fund may be used for urgent mitigation projects.

Damage assessment

The cleanup efforts after the Territory was ravaged by heavy rainfall and fallen debris will cost Government approximately $500,000.

Premier O’Neal also disclosed that the damage assessment team, which comprises officials from the Department of Disaster Management and Public Works Department, in its preliminary reports, stated that to restore the damaged public infrastructure would cost approximately $10M.

“This does not include the damages to private infrastructure which obviously is expected to escalate the cost for recovery of the Territory from the natural disaster,” the Premier added.