As Grand Cayman continues to struggle to get back on its feet following Hurricane Ivan, Governor Bruce Dinwiddy reflected on the bright side when caught up with him.

?I think in all the circumstances it?s been handled pretty well. This, I?m told, is one of the biggest storms to hit the Caribbean Islands in 100 years. And I think it?s a bigger storm than the one that killed 80-odd people in Cayman Brac in 1932,? said the Governor.

?And I think it?s a terrific tribute to the planning machinery that we only had one confirmed death and one loss.?

One man was hurt trying to get into a shelter, and died a few days later. The other casualty insisted on securing his boat in the middle of the storm and hasn?t been seen since.

Mr. Dinwiddy said it was ?pretty remarkable? that the Islands? financial district was up and running within one week after Ivan.

The Government does face, however, a significant amount of residents who remain sceptical about official figures and impatient with the pace of recovery.

Much of that is due to serious difficulties in communicating with the local population and, to fill the information gap, the rumour mill has been working overtime.

Mr. Dinwiddy has himself come up for some criticism for his handling of the immediate aftermath of the hurricane.

?We were thrust right back into the 19th Century,? Mr. Dinwiddy said in his own defence. ?The lines of communication was right out and remains out throughout most of the Cayman Islands.?

Cable and Wireless had, however, managed to keep a slender cell phone capacity out of the Islands. But the Governor explained that his satellite phone would not work properly from within the thickly walled fire station that he, and a handful of key Government officials, had bunkered down in for the storm.

?There is still trauma and people saying and writing extraordinary things. And people behaving out of character,? he said.

?I?m very conscious of some of the people around me ? many of them I pay tremendous tribute to, actually, for the way people have kept going and the courage people have shown.

?And the terrific and marvellous public and private sector people whose home lives were devastated and who lost all their belongings ? and they were at work within two days doing their best to put things rights.?

He said he was excited at the level of private and public sector cooperation that sprung into action.

And he praised the level of spontaneous aid from the private sector to assist ordinary folks.

One woman donated three container loads of supplies and CI$3 million.

He dismissed as ?absolute rubbish? suspicions among some residents that aid from abroad was turned away by the Government.

Cayman?s Government officially estimates that over 3,000 people had taken refuge in pre-designated hurricane shelters before the hurricane. But a fair amount of the shelters ended up accommodating far more than planned. One official shelter, George Town Primary School, took in over 600 ? far above its 174-person capacity, according to a Government press statement.

Hundreds more sheltered in unofficial buildings and thousands are effectively homeless. Most of the public schools are gearing up to reopen in a limited capacity next month.