DANA Committee Finalizing Data Collection to Determine Value of Damage in Wake of Hurricane Lisa

The Government of Belize is getting closer to confirming an official figure for the value of damage caused by Hurricane Lisa. Last night, we told you about all those contributions coming in towards the relief efforts from Belize’s bilateral partners. There are more funds for the government to access from the international community, but as Prime Minister John Briceño has indicated, an official report of the totality of damages and needs must first be completed. The Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis Committee (DANA) under the Ministry of Natural Resources, Petroleum and Mining, is responsible for that undertaking, and they have been on the ground since Thursday of last week. To date, DANA has assessed a total of three thousand homes, two thousand, five hundred in Belize City and just over five hundred in other parts of the country. Of those assessments, Tennielle Hendy, the Deputy Chair of DANA, confirmed that a total of two hundred and eighty homes in Belize City have been completely damaged, based on their assessment thus far. We spoke with her this morning in Belize City.

Tennielle Hendy, Deputy Chair, Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis Committee

Tennielle Hendy

“What I can tell you is that first I have to share my appreciation with the public officers who have been out conducting damage assessments since Thursday. We didn’t waste any time. We had them out from Thursday. They worked through the weekends and up to now. So, the efforts or the fruits of that labor, is that we have nationally, because we don’t only work for Belize City, we are responsible country wide, so far we have over three thousand assessments under our belt and we still have another two hundred to do today as other areas are still conducting assessments.  So for the Committee which short name is DANA, we look at structural damages, we are looking at flood damages. You know, I might not have anything happen to my house physically but I might have been hit by storm surge so maybe I have two to three feet of water in my house, mattresses, appliances, whatever household items were damaged. So, basically the major data we collect, we also collect some necessary data. We need to know how many children are in the home, how many males and female, how many disabilities have. We also look at the ownership of the structures, whether you rent or you own. We collect information on income. We have a lot of persons who live on remittances, some are on pension, and some are unemployed. So, we need to capture all of this to have as much data as we can so that NEMO can make a decision on who gets what. So, I have to be very clear on that. Being in the field, officers have relayed to me that when they are doing the assessment people ask are you going to assist me, when I am going to get my zinc that is not the mandate of this committee.”