Minister within the Ministry of Communities Annette Ferguson at the weekend visited the families who lost their homes to fire on Bent Street, Wortmanville Georgetown.
The Minister said the visit was to assess how the Government can assist the families.
“It is just for us to assess to see exactly what assistance from the Central Housing and Planning Authority that we can render to the affected families,” the Minister said.
The victims were given an opportunity to voice their needs and concerns. All of the families noted that important documents were destroyed in the fire including land titles, transport, birth certificates and passports.
“Once your documents are misplaced, because these things are on record whether at the Registry, whether at Central Housing and Planning Authority, we can easily have those things regenerated,” the Minister said.
The Minister then encouraged her to visit the Housing Authority to enquire about her application.
Meanwhile, Cristal Perreira who has been living at Bent Street for the past 13 years with her family, enquired whether they will be eligible to receive a Turn-Key home from the Government.
In response, Ferguson said she will meet with her team on Tuesday and discuss how best to support the victims.
The Minister also noted that the Ministry will be donating packages of food items and other necessities to the victims.
“I just want to empathize with you because fire is man’s worst enemy; I mean we can deal with flood, you will be able to salvage something [but] when fire struck sometimes it carries everything,” the Minister said.
The Mayor and City Council is also assisting the victims with food items and clothing.
“Christmas is coming up so we want to be able to try to source some stuff so we can present to them for the Christmas,” Councillor Dawn Stewart said.
The massive blaze that destroyed six homes on Friday last started about 4:00hrs.
