Banks reopen but Cayman Islands remain 'in crisis'

Monday, September 20, 2004

George Town, Cayman Islands - The Daily Telegraph reports that many of the Cayman Islands' 600 banks re-open today in an effort to show that life is back to normal in the British territory devastated by Hurricane Ivan last week.

But local people fear the the reopening of George Town's business district, where electricity has been restored ahead of the rest of Grand Cayman, is being used to mask an increasingly serious humanitarian problem.

Bruce Dinwiddy, the Governor, talks of "incredible and very exciting" momentum in getting the country back on its feet. He has cancelled the general election due on Nov 17 but promised: "We will astonish the world by how quickly we recover."

However, frustration is growing on the streets. Even government workers speak of a "cover-up" of the scale of the disaster by authorities desperate not to tarnish the islands' image and anxious to persuade investors to stay. The islands are the world's fifth-largest financial centre, with some 600 banks and financial institutions valued at nearly £300 billion.

"Tell the world our country is in crisis," said one warden at a hurricane shelter in the West Bay area. "Tell the whole of London that it needs to send help."

Sandra Dailey, 58, the mother of the British world record freediver Tanya Streeter, accused the governor of "living in la-la land" for the gloss he is putting on the crisis.

"He sure as hell isn't getting the true picture and the horror of this whole situation across," said Mrs Dailey, from Havant, West Sussex, who has lived in the Cayman Islands for 37 years.

Her home in South Sound was badly damaged by a tidal wave that tore buildings from their foundations. Along the coast, some areas have been obliterated. No one yet seems sure whether all the residents have been accounted for.

The stench of rotting debris fills the air and electricity and mains water supplies have yet to be restored in most places outside the capital, George Town. Petrol and bottled water are rationed.

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