[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 39 (Monday, September 28, 1998)]
[Pages 1889-1890]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Hurricane Georges

September 25, 1998

    Hurricane Georges, which is bearing down on South Florida, has 
already cost many American citizens their lives in Puerto Rico, as well 
as caused huge human and material harm throughout the Caribbean. As we 
prepare for the impact of the storm on the mainland, we are working to 
bring relief to those already affected by the storm, and to help them to 
begin rebuilding.
    Yesterday, I declared Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to be 
disaster areas. Already, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has 
sent over 200 emergency relief workers to assess the damage. I have sent 
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo and Small 
Business Administrator Aida Alvarez to Puerto Rico, to report to me on 
what further steps need to be taken. We are gravely concerned about the 
loss of life and property in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, 
and will continue to work at the highest levels to bring the islands and 
their people back.
    We are also working to help those affected outside our borders. 
Yesterday, I sent an emergency response team from the Office of Foreign 
Disaster Assistance, together with relief workers and supplies. I have 
asked Hugh Palmer, the head of Humanitarian Response Programs at the 
Agency for International Development, to go to the Dominican Republic 
this weekend to assess the damage, supervise our efforts, and report to 
me on what further should be done.
    Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have felt the force of 
this storm.

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