 Welcome to NTA Nightly. I am General Norville. This edition stops stories. Nemo assists several residents who fled their homes in the aftermath of heavy rains. The Ministry of Health holds broad-based consultations on COVID vaccination and the Caricam member states to provide assistance to earthquake-stricken Haiti. Torrential rains on the weekend have caused landslides and damage to homes in a number communities. On Friday, 20th August, there was widespread flooding in the city centre, as conditions associated with a tropical wave intensified. Torrent Gustav, director of the National Emergency Management Organization, Nemo, appearing on the morning brew on the national television network, said Nemo received emergency reports concerning Marigold, Bocage, T-Rochet and Souffre. We did receive calls from individuals whose property was partially or totally destroyed. We had one instance again in the Bocage area. We have one in Marigold where the home was totally destroyed. And just this morning, I received the call from the T-Rochet area where there is a house that is at present moving due to the rainfall and landslide nearby. We are continuing to receive reports. We saw reports from Souffre where the Columbia area is impassable due to a major landslide in that area. Our district disaster committee is continuing to send in the reports as they receive them and they will be continuing throughout the day. As damage assessments continue, the island is forecast to experience more rains from the intertropical convergence zone. Depending rains, Gustav says can impact Nemo's response to the affected families. The one in Bocage, the family cannot go back into the house at all because the landslide came to the back and pushed the house off its pillars. So they cannot access that house at all. All of the property, everything is in there still. So we have assisted them. A neighbor took them in rent free for a month. And we assisted them with a few mattresses, some bedding, and some food items to assist them period that they will be at least for now. We will be continuing to liaise with them to find out how we could continue to offer that kind of support to them. The Nemo director says the public can assist in recuperation efforts through the donation of mattresses. After the passage of Hurricane Elsa, we have assisted a number of families with mattresses. As you would know, it was a lot of roof damage, mattresses, beddings. We have given a number of these out. We are short on them now. We're expecting to get a few more, but right now we're short on them. We are trying to get donations in that regard. So anyone who can assist, we will gladly... Anyone wishing to contribute to the efforts of the National Emergency Management Organization can call 468-2121 or 452-3802. And as you heard earlier, more rains are expected to affect the island. Director of Met Services, André Joillet has more on that. Any rainfall occurring today would cause flooding because of the saturation of the soils. And the models are showing that we are expected in the tropical wave to go through by tomorrow, but ahead of it, we will be having some instability. And that would cause showers from this afternoon into tonight. So persons in low-lying areas and flood-brown areas, please take the necessary precautions, like your waterways. Make sure that they are clear. And if you need to move to higher ground, please do so. In other developments, the Cabinet of Ministers will this week receive recommendations coming out of the recently held National COVID-19 Vaccination Policy Consultation. The forum drew participation from the public and private sectors, medical practitioners, non-governmental organizations, trade union representatives, the Employers' Federation, the SLHTA, among other entities. The forum discussed issues surrounding vaccines, vaccination and the legal implications. The Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs on Thursday held a National Vaccination Policy Consultation. The consultation brought together professionals of various areas, including that of the medical and legal fields, with a view of analyzing the current COVID-19 situation and exploring available options so as to effectively combat the pandemic. Dean of Law at the University of the West Indies, Professor Rosemary Bell Antoine, explained that the best option would be for a country to employ a voluntary vaccination scheme accompanied by the required education and persuasion, rather than a mandatory vaccination scheme. The Government of St. Lucia has clearly stated that it will not go the mandatory vaccination route and will respect the rights of citizens to choose. However, in the wider Caribbean, there have been discussions on whether governments should mandate vaccination to resume some sense of normalcy. Professor Bell Antoine said such a mandate is supported by law. I would say to you that yes, the legal framework does support compulsory vaccination or mandatory vaccination, whether we're looking at the constitution, the public law sector, or whether we look and get from the point of view of the private law sector. And so the first thing in terms of our constitutions would be to appreciate that our constitutions would look at what is reasonably required in the particular context. And of course this context, as you have heard, is one of great risks lives are being threatened by COVID. So is it reasonable then, with the seriousness of this pandemic, is compelling vaccination a reasonable option? Yes. And I would also suggest that we want to add to that because of how we see how laws developed, how cases are being developed. Is it a proportionate response? In other words, is there something else we can do that will be just as effective? And the other things that we have been doing are the PPE, etc. So it would be, is it that we have tried all of these other methods and persons still don't want to vaccinate? Then it means that we are getting to that idea that it's a proportionate response. That is a principle of law which comes into being in this instance. The Dean of Law indicated that the court would use established science to determine its legal position and not conspiracies or unproven theories. She further explained that the rights of all individuals will be considered in such instances and not just that of those who are or are not vaccinated, those who wish to be vaccinated, those who wish to remain unvaccinated and those who want to be but are unable to be vaccinated due to medical issues. Everyone's rights must be taken into consideration as according to Professor Bell Antoine, rights are not absolute and do not exist in a vacuum. And in fact, if we look at your constitution, the St. Lucia constitution, you will see not only does it speak to reasonableness, reasonably required in the interests of the society, but also it talks specifically not just of the public interest in health, as was mentioned before, but also it specifically mentions public health as an avenue for limiting rights in the public interest. So that is not so in all constitutions, but in your constitution public health is specifically mentioned. And what is even more interesting and what makes it even more plausible in terms of an adequate legal response for compulsory vaccination is that the St. Lucia constitution also specifically mentions infectious disease. Dean of law Professor Bell Antoine advised that the exploration of legal avenues is not hard and fast and should only come into play after all avenues have been exhausted. Individuals the world over have expressed their concerns and or reasons as to why they continue to refrain from taking the COVID-19 vaccine. The Dean of law examined one such reason. I understand that the COVID-19 one might be a bit different in that many people have concerns about it being for emergency use or experimental use, but the courts again have looked at these issues in the Bridges case for example they have not found it persuasive with this notion of experimental because we've had scientific trials and so on and because it's been declared safe. So that has not been a very important deterrent to any court saying that because of that you can't compel it is still in that direction. I must say that there is nothing hard and fast that court can't say otherwise but from the analogies that we have this is the direction this is a trend and what we believe to be the legal position. Of course the legal position is different to any policy decision that you may want to take but this is what the legal position would be. Dean of law at the University of the West Indies Professor Rosemary Bell Antoine. The Caribbean community Caricam is responding to the urgent needs of Haiti in the aftermath of two natural disasters a 7.2 magnitude earthquake demolished buildings and took hundreds of lives. Haiti was also lashed by tropical storm grace which caused widespread flooding more from to San King English Francis of Caricam News Time. I reiterate the community's condolences with the government and people of Haiti and to the relatives of those who lost lives in this terrible disaster. I also wish a speedy and full recovery to those of those who were injured Haiti can be assured that the community will do all it can to assist in this time of national crisis. The toll of the powerful earthquake has climbed to over 2100 dead and 12,000 injured. According to the carbon disaster emergency management agency's fourth situation report over 300 people are missing as of August 18. At least 650,000 people are in need of emergency humanitarian assistance in the most impacted areas representing roughly 1.6 million people. We do know that approximately 16 percent of the country's population has been affected and that the impact has been most felt in three of the southern departments. These are the south granades and NEAPS departments. The government of Haiti has listed water to our polling, food, medical assistance and sanitary kits as the priority items needed at this time. I've been in contact with Haiti's prime minister, his Excellency Ariel Henry, and we send theirs and I have pledged our support for the Haitian people and would have indicated that we continue to stand in solidarity with our Haitian brothers and sisters. The required humanitarian items are available for purchase in country. Now this is a very important point because Port-au-Prince is still operational which means that commerce is still occurring in country. So a principle that we operate by is that we do not wish to flood the country with relief items in a situation where the supply chain has not been broken and relief items can in fact be procured in country. So in this regard, the government of Haiti has guided that they're requesting cash donations. CDEMA has deployed members of the Caricom operational support team to Haiti to assist the country's emergency operation center in its coordination efforts. Caricom member states and CDEMA are collecting monetary donations to assist humanitarian efforts in Haiti. Tropical depression grace which dumped heavy rains in the disaster-torn country killed four people, flooded hundreds of houses and caused landslides. Tropical storm grace also affected Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, dumping heavy rainfall, downing trees and electrical poles. And St Lucia has also joined the Caricom response. The National Emergency Management Organization, NEMO, will in the coming days inform St Lucia on how they can donate to the relief effort. In keeping with changes in international oil prices and government's application of the modified market pastoral petroleum pricing mechanism, the retail price of LPG 20, 22, and 100 pound cylinders has changed. The retail price of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene remains unchanged. The price changes take effect from Monday, August 23, 2021. Gasoline and diesel remain at $13.95 per gallon. Kerosene remains unchanged at $10.06 per gallon. The 20 pound LPG cylinder decreased from $31.65 to $31.59. The 22 pound cylinder also decreased from $34.81 to $34.75 and the 100 pound cylinder saw a reduction from $219.79 to $219.26. The next adjustment of the retail price of fuel products will be on Monday, September 13, 2021. This is NTN Nightly. Primers Hutchinson is up next. Stay with us. We are working parents and we breastfed both babies exclusively. Mother's breast milk is naturally the best milk for baby. Love yourself and love your baby. Breastfeeding saves me money and it's free. Every moment I breastfeed strengthens the bond between me and my baby. I breastfed twin boys and lost all my baby fats. We are breastfed and we have breast milk power. I am Pastor Alvin and I support breastfeeding. For more information, call the Nutrition Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness at 468-5359. Welcome back. We join Primers Hutchinson for the NTN Nouvelle of Guéol. We are going to be talking about the National Television of the NNN, the Nouvelle of Guéol, and the Primers Hutchinson. We have a consultation with the COVID-19 patients who can come and visit. We have a lot of different organizations and agencies in the country. The consultation was held by the public members. You see. You see. 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