President Orders Assistance to Communities Affected by Rainstorms

President Orders Assistance to Communities Affected by Rainstorms
Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, 06/10/2011

President Leonel Fernández ordered assistance to those communities affected by the recent rainstorms that have drenched the entire country, damaging the agricultural sector and homes, making thousands homeless in the provinces of Sánchez Ramírez, Santiago and Dajabón.

Calderón indicated that assistance to the above-mentioned communities comes in the form of 7,000 rations of non-perishable goods such as rice, beans, pasta, sardines, oil, broth, tomato sauce and other products that make up the family breadbasket.

Information released by the General Administrator of the Economic Dining Halls, Nicolás Calderón, included an order from President Fernández to continue the simultaneous operations underway to provide assistance to all communities affected by the extreme rainstorms.

Calderón indicated that assistance to the above-mentioned communities comes in the form of 7,000 rations of non-perishable goods such as rice, beans, pasta, sardines, oil, broth, tomato sauce and other products that make up the family breadbasket.

In addition to these products, Calderón said his organization is also distributing 5,000 cooked meals per day to the same number of people who have been temporarily housed with family and friends as a result of losing their homes.

He explained that this assistance is an effort to make sure that families made homeless have their food needs taken care of while staying with family and friends so they don´t cause a financial burden to those who have taken them into their homes.

Government investment for these operations is $3,700.000.00 Dominican pesos. The President also authorized emergency funding to the Ministry of Housing, in the event it becomes necessary.

These operations were carried out in Las Lajas, Tres Bocas, Las Cuevas de Zambrana, El Naranjo, Quita Sueño, El Cruce, El Bosque, el Cacojar, el Cotorro, Pavo, El Corocito, Las Caobas, Las dos Palmas, Los Jobos, La Yanez, Jobo Claro, La Luz, Las Flores, Cuesta Hermosa, Los Transformadores and Platanal, all belonging to the province of Sánchez Ramírez.
In Santiago, deliveries were made in the communities of El Puente, Borojol, Matadero, Botoncillo, Juan Antonio Ali, Monte Adentro Arriba, La Cruz, Salgez, and the municipalities of Licey al Medio and Tamboril.

In the province of Dajabón, distributions took place in Pino, El Aguacate, La Subida de la Burra and in Mercado.

In Cotuí, Calderón´s team installed a mobile kitchen to make hot meals for inhabitants of Las Flores neighborhood where at least 35 families were forced to take refuge in the Escuela Vieja (Old School).

Another neighborhood that received assistance was El Puente where the Licey River washed away seven houses and flooded more than twenty. Also, the neighborhood of El Guasumal al Fondo in Tamboril, which suffered damage from the heavy rains, received government help.

Calderón announced that the operations in Azua, Elías Piña and other provinces in the Southeast will continue at the weekend. He reassured that his institution is prepared to help families who might be affected by the rains, mudslides and floods in cities and communities around the country during this season of storms and inclement weather. His organization is working with the National Center for Emergency Operations (COE).