Shelters were initially constructed as “Temporary Housing Units” for those displaced by the volcano. However, they served as living quarters to many displaced families for a much longer time than anticipated. The small 8ft. by 6ft. compartments came equipped with one fluorescent light and a bunk bed. Some individuals reported as many as five individuals living in each room at one time. Two bathrooms lacking hot water were shared between ten compartments. Kitchen and recreational facilities were shared by multiple shelters. Families from varying communities of the south were forced to live together in the north on the windy hillsides of the extinct Silver Hills Volcano.

46- year-old Senior Security Aviation Officer:
“To tell the truth, if I had to stay in, what do you call them, them shelters…I would have left, I would have left Montserrat…”

Deputy Director of the Emergency Operations Center:
When we started out first we, we weren’t as prepared…as we were for the last evacuations …You know, we did not have that preparation early on…

Owner of bar in Little Bay:
“…Because in the shelter, they don’t have to buy nothing. Down to the toilet paper, get it for free. So that the people don’t want to move out of the shelter…”

A middle-aged male photographer and store owner:
“Well, I felt sorry for the people who lived in the shelters, because I know I couldn’t live like that, not even for a day…”

Dickinson students were accommodated in the emergency shelters for one week.
Click this link to see what they had to say.

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