Bodden Town residents speak on Hurricane Shelter

Elected officials and at least one Bodden Town resident today call for the completion of a building in Bodden town that would act as a Hurricane shelter. Four years ago, construction stopped on the Bodden Town Church of God Hurricane shelter and hall.
As parts of the Caribbean continue to reel after powerful Hurricane Irma, calls for the completion of the building are heard.
Cayman 27’s Philipp Richter has more.

The Bodden town district is one of the fastest growing districts in Cayman with a population of over 10-thousand people, yet there is no shelter in place to withstand a category 5 Hurricane, residents are expressing concern due to what they’ve seen with Irma and the rest of the Caribbean.

“We actually could be in the same position , you know, we sympathize with those people, but it could be us, so we have to look into it, we can probably shelter other people in that shelter,” said Bodden Town Resident, Ernest Bodden.

Ernest Bodden a resident of Bodden Town says finishing this hurricane shelter would help ensure everyone in the district is safe in a natural disaster.

“You have that shelter open, Northward can take that, Lower Valley can take that even as far as Savannah, and the other center, the Civic Center, other people can use that too,” said Mr. Bodden.

“You see the Premier travelling to other Caribbean countries to offer assistance, which I applaud and I support, however charity starts at home,” said MLA for Newlands and Deputy for the Opposition Government, Alva Suckoo.

MLA for Newlands, Alva Suckoo says the building can be finished for under 2-million dollars and nothing has been done.

“For this upcoming budget , I put the concern in there and I hope they will address it this time around,” said Mr. Suckoo

Bodden town MLA Chris Saunders says they are trying to source funds from private parties to finish the building along with Government funding.

“We are at this point committed to making sure that at least we start the progress with some work on this, start by easily just getting the land cleared up and then working from there,” said MLA for Bodden Town West, Chris Saunders.

Now the Bodden Town Primary School and civic center are hurricane shelters, but MLA Anthony Eden says using the school as a shelter can impact the school year.

The Bodden Town Church of God received a million dollars to build the facility in 20-11 through the now defunct national building fund, a highly criticized programme set up by Then-Premier McKeeva Bush.