KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (CMC) — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun distributing emergency food assistance to people in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada, severely affected by Hurricane Beryl.
The WFP said the southern islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Grenada islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique experienced “total devastation and isolation” after the hurricane hit.
“Agriculture and fishing have been severely affected. For residents in the hardest-hit areas, this disaster has exacerbated existing economic challenges, reducing access to nutritious food, especially for the most vulnerable in their communities.”
The WFP said it had urgently mobilised 5,000 food kits containing canned and dried food and cooking oil – enough to feed 15,000 people for 10 days.
Half of the supplies were purchased and packaged in neighbouring Barbados and transported to Kingstown through a joint effort between WFP, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Barbados Defence Force and private organisations, the newspaper said.
“The World Food Programme is fully committed to supporting affected communities whose lives and livelihoods have been devastated by this hurricane,” said Brian Bogart, WFP’s incoming Caribbean Country Director.
“Our teams are working around the clock to deliver food and other vital aid to the hardest hit areas.”
As part of its partnership with CDEMA, WFP said it was also providing “critical logistical support” to the broader humanitarian response, and had arranged the delivery of relief supplies such as generators, water testing kits, temporary shelters and hygiene kits on behalf of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Additionally, WFP said it has mobilized “desperately needed” trucks and forklifts to help with the handling and dispatch of relief supplies. This logistical support was made possible with the support of USAID’s Office of Humanitarian Assistance, WFP said.
“We are seeing the impacts of the climate crisis for thousands of people whose lives and livelihoods have been upended by this hurricane. Small island developing States in the Caribbean are on the frontline of the climate crisis and are victims of a crisis they did not bring upon themselves,” said Bogaert.
“Investments are needed to help these people recover and become more resilient to intensifying natural disasters,” he added.
WFP is working with regional and national response agencies to deploy personnel to response efforts in hard-hit countries, including St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Jamaica, providing emergency response, logistics and communications expertise and providing assistance in key areas.
Bogaert said WFP is working with local authorities and partners to conduct needs assessments to identify areas and communities in need of humanitarian assistance.
WFP was established in 2018 and covers 22 countries and territories in the British and Dutch Caribbean.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said it was supporting Caribbean governments in the wake of Hurricane Beryl.
“This weather event has had severe impacts on agriculture, threatening food security and the livelihoods of small-scale producers,” FAO said, adding that it was part of the UN Emergency Technical Team (UNETT) deployed to the Caribbean areas affected by Hurricane Beryl, and under the guidance of CDEMA, was preparing a rapid needs assessment and recommendations to restore production and livelihoods.
FAO said it was providing assistance through damage and needs assessments using drones and satellite remote sensing.
FAO said that according to assessments carried out so far, the main humanitarian needs in the food security sector are focused on restoring the fishing capacity of artisanal fishers and actors involved in the value chain, including infrastructure to provide processing, conservation and transformation facilities, as well as planting materials to restore damaged crops.
FAO noted that access to rural areas remains a challenge and authorities estimate damage to the agriculture sector at more than $6.4 million.
