The Minister of Sports and Recreation, Francisco Camacho, made a tour of several provinces of the Eastern Region on Tuesday, where he received a detailed report, which can be described as “devastating” the conditions in which most of the facilities of the Region were left. East and Samaná, after the passage of Hurricane Fiona, last Monday.
Likewise, the head of Sports stated that he also made contacts with the different athletes and their families, where he has been interested in learning about the situation they are experiencing today after Fiona’s passing.
“We are going to send food rations to these athletes and their families, since they are the reason for the existence of the Ministry of Sports and we have the order of President Luis Abinader in that regard,” Francisco Camacho said.
Camacho, on his tour, was able to observe the seriousness of the physical damage to the sports works, he has been in direct contact with all the provincial and municipal directors of the Ministry of Sports of the provinces of La Altagracia, El Seibo, Hato Mayor, La Romana, San Pedro de Macoris, as well as Samaná and Nagua, among others, who keep you up to date on how the sports facilities turned out.
Camacho affirmed- “it is still early to quantify the damaged facilities and the amount to seek to repair them.”
“The instructions of President Luis Abinader is that we go to the aid of all the sectors of those affected provinces and sports do not escape this,” stressed Camacho, who said that the most important thing is that the young people and athletes of those provinces return to the normal as soon as possible.
In the province of Samaná, the environment is discouraging, since practically 80% of the sports facilities suffered severe damage. “This is the case of the municipal Playground of Santa Bárbara, where the roof of the first-class side disappeared from the stadium of the municipal district of Limón and suffered a lot of damage.
On his side, the municipal Play of the municipality of Sánchez, the roof was partially destroyed, the mesh detached, dislocated lights, broken fountains.
One that was severely affected was the Multiuso de Santa Bárbara. The hallucinatory wall disappeared, it was left with openings in the ceiling, detachment of the cabin, destroyed lights, plank in poor condition.
In San Pedro de Macorís, the sports facilities also suffered the impact of the atmospheric phenomenon.
The sports complex was affected by falling trees and power lines, which brought high-voltage wires to the ground in the area of the softball stadium, the athletics track and the pavilions of other disciplines.
“We were also able to verify that unscrupulous people took advantage of the darkness of the night to remove the electrical wiring from the complex, which aggravates the situation."revealed Camacho.
The sports directors of Miderec in the "Sultan of the East"agreed on the need to use a chainsaw to cut the trunks that have fallen in the complex to return to normality as soon as possible "with the support of the Minister of Sports, Francisco Camacho and all his collaborators”.
In the municipality of Consuelo, the multipurpose facility suffered damage to the floor, to one of the boards, as well as damage to the transformer that feeds the facility’s electrical power supply.
Also, Fiona’s passage left the softball stadium without power and several fallen trees around it.