By Richardson Dhalai Friday, January 15 2010

Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner has expressed dissatisfaction with the relief amount pledged by the Trinidad and Tobago government to Haiti which is in ruins after a devastating earthquake on Tuesday.

The 7.0 magnitude quake struck at about 4.53 pm and was centered 10 miles west of the Haitian capital of Port-au-prince at a depth of only five miles and flattened buildings including the Presidential Palace, the Parliament building, schools and hospitals.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning immediately pledged one million US dollars to assist in relief efforts.

However speaking at a public meeting at the Princes Town Triangle on Wednesday evening, Warner contrasted the amount given by the Patrick Manning administration to the city of New Orleans in the United States following the passage of Hurricane Katrina and the amount pledged to Haiti.

“When New Orleans was under water, Patrick Manning rushed to give George Bush ten million dollars US but the country that needs it the most, Haiti, he gives the least because he says things are bad. For the first time he knows things are bad,” Warner said.

Manning, at a post-Cabinet news briefing yesterday, defended the donation and said this was what would be given at this time.

(See pages 14A & 15A)