Hurricane Beryl ripped through parts of the Caribbean (Photo courtesy Sky News)
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By Tahna Weston
tahna.weston@antiguaobserver.com
The National Office of Disaster Services (NODS) will be joining regional partners in efforts to assist hurricane-ravaged Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Both countries suffered severe damage to infrastructure, homes and other buildings during the passage of Hurricane Beryl on Monday.
NODS Director Sherrod James told Observer that the disaster management agency has been in talks with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) network, which has been in contact with the affected islands seeking to get a number of relief items shipped to the affected nations.
James said that basic items such as water, food, hygiene kits and tarpaulins would be sent to assist those impacted by the deadly storm, which has claimed several lives.
He noted that the private sector is also lending its support to this drive, for which he said he is thankful.
James said a coordinated effort is now underway to help transport a lot of resources into the affected areas as some critical facilities have been impacted, including the ports.
According to James, some vessels are having challenges refueling, therefore the national disaster management systems in these countries are seeking to see how best the countries in the north-east Caribbean can assist in the relief drive.
“And they’ve [CDEMA] been actually working with the impacted states to get some of the basic things; they are looking to actually mobilise regional resources, so we are actually, with the support from the country, we are actually mobilising some national resources as well as helping to transfer regional resources down into the impacted states and the impacted region.
“So there are a number of vessels that are here – coast guard vessels that the military is also supporting, as well as the Port Authority, and they are starting to mobilise. The military has also put support persons on standby . . . some of the NODS staff is on standby, and we’re looking to send down trans-ships of basic items that we can assist with,” James said.
He said Tropical Shipping has come on board to help move supplies, along with the international non-governmental organisation Global Support Development which has partnered with CDEMA.
James said that since it is still early after the storm, further assessments would need to be done to determine what else would be required as both countries seek to rebuild, and as services are restored.
In addition to getting supplies to the impacted places, a team of police and officers from the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force has left for St Vincent and Grenada as part of the Caricom disaster relief unit.
They are expected to be a part of the recovery efforts for at least two weeks.
Meanwhile, James, taking into account the severe impact of Hurricane Beryl on St Vincent and Grenada, is urging local residents to ensure that their annual hurricane preparations for the season are in place
Looking back to 2017, with the rapid development of hurricanes Irma and Maria, James said climate change is having a dynamic impact on the weather, as was again demonstrated with the rapid formation of Beryl.
“So we’ve always been advocating (that) persons take the time to look at their home emergency plan, the basic things that they need over time to establish their emergency kits, the food kits, any particular types of medication that they may need, those basic things.
“And you do that over time; you don’t want to wait until the last minute to try and run to the supermarket to purchase things in bulk, because then you will be utilising funds that you had put away for other critical things,” James advised.
He said that persons should take weather warnings seriously and make a determination early as to whether to remain at home or leave, because they could end up in a dangerous situation during the passage of the system.
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