Virgin Islands Get $500,000 in Aid

The Interior Department released $500,000 in emergency funds Thursday for the Virgin Islands. An Interior spokesman suggested the money could be used for food and clothing for disaster victims--and for chain saws and other tools to dig out of the debris and restore essential services.

Meanwhile, President Bush declared Puerto Rico a disaster area. He did the same Wednesday for the Virgin Islands. The declarations make federal aid available, much of it low-interest loans through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which established a task force to coordinate its aid efforts with those of other federal departments.

The aid is badly needed, said economist Jose Salazar-Carillo, a professor at Florida International University. He said Hurricane Hugo had set back the economies of the Caribbean areas it hit by at least two years. These areas need “not only loans but outright grants,” he said, “to get their infrastructures back together.”