I am appealing for regional assistance - Gonsalves

ST VINCENT (CMC): The Ralph Gonsalves administration on Sunday appealed for regional and international assistance to rebuild the country after Hurricane Tomas left damages which are expected to amount to several million dollars.

"I am appealing for regional and international assistance. I will, myself, make the formal appeals to our friends, our developmental partners," Gonsalves said on local radio.

"Some of them have missions here in St Vincent and the Grenadines and we have friends in the region too. We need some quick emergency assistance to get ourselves back on our feet in the shortest possible time."

Gonsalves used the medium to summon his Cabinet members to a meeting yesterday.

"We are looking at millions and millions of dollars in damage," Gonsalves said, adding that it might cost an average of EC$30,000 (US$11,173) to repair each of the 300 houses severely damaged by the storm.

"You take agriculture: all the bananas are flat, the plantains, fruit trees are down," Gonsalves said.

There have been no confirmed reports of loss of life, but two persons sustained severe injuries while repairing a roof during the passage of the storm which battered St Vincent and St Lucia on Saturday.