Seychelles' government gives update on aid given to victims of Dec. 7 disasters 

Residents of Cascade seeking assistance the day after the explosion. (Seychelles News Agency)

Authorities in Seychelles have recorded 531 houses that have been affected by the blast of a CCCL explosives store on December 7 among which 354 are privately owned and 177 are managed by the Property Management Company (PMC).

The houses and businesses were damaged after four containers of explosives of the CCCL quarrying company exploded in the Providence Industrial Estate.

In an update on the assistance being provided to the affected residents in the eastern Mahe district of Cascade on Wednesday, officials said that although other buildings at Providence were damaged, they are addressing only residential situations.

The chief executive of the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency, Jitesh Shah, said that the "government is committed to helping all those affected in the shortest time possible." 

Shah revealed that so far 20 houses have been condemned and will need to be demolished and rebuilt and among those only eight owners of the houses have insurance.

"We are working with the 20 owners and there are some that we are also helping to design their new homes," he added.

Among the government managed properties the 177 properties managed by the PMC, 175 have already been attended to, however, Shah said the company has continuous requests that it is dealing with.

On the question of who is funding the renovation and rebuilding work, Shah explained that this was being done through a mixture of insurance pay-outs for those who have them and through a special fund that had been established to help the victims of the incident.

While Shah was assuring those affected that the government is working to deal with the residential issue as quickly as possible, he also asked people to have some patience.

"We have to carry out our checks and balances because the funds used are from donors, who want the money to be used responsibly and that means that the process can take some time," he said.

Among other agencies attending the press conference was the Agency for Social Protection (ASP), which has paid 842 households a sum of SCR 25,000 ($1871.35) each.

The total sum ASP paid out also includes all those who were affected by the heavy rains and landslides in the north of Mahe on the same day.

The chief executive of ASP, Brenda Morin, said, "We will be making our final payments to the 39 remaining tomorrow."

The local government representative at the conference, Romano Songore, revealed that there are no longer people living at Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Hotel.

The hotel was being used as one of the shelters to house those who homes were affected by the disasters. Other shelters were set up at Petit Seminaire, a Roman Catholic establishment found on the main island of Mahe.