Three days ago, the southern Caribbean felt the impact of the first hurricane of the season, exceptionally early and powerful. Rated category 5 on the night of July 2, it is considered “potentially catastrophic” by the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), with winds of up to 270 km/h. The French Red Cross is appealing for donations to help those affected by the disaster.
In just 48 hours, Hurricane Beryl has demonstrated its full power. It hit the islands of Grenada and Saint-Vincent-les-Grenadines particularly hard, claiming 7 lives and causing considerable destruction, leaving the inhabitants without water, electricity or a communications network. Carriacou, an island in Grenada, was razed to the ground in 30 minutes, leaving a large part of the population homeless. Other islands in the Grenadines suffered the same fate, and the hurricane did not spare the French West Indies: some coastal communities in Martinique had to cope with heavy cyclonic swells. A hurricane of rare violence, it is continuing on its trajectory, reaching Jamaica on Wednesday July 3 in category 4, then the Cayman Islands.
To provide rapid assistance to the affected populations, the PIRAC team (Regional Intervention Platform Americas-Caribbean) is working closely and in coordination with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. It also works in close collaboration with national Red Cross volunteers, whom it supports on a daily basis: they assess the situation and needs on the ground in order to provide the most appropriate aid to the population.
Against this backdrop, the French Red Cross will deploy a stock of emergency equipment and basic necessities this week: 400 family kits (shelter kits, kitchen kits, hygiene kits, blankets, tarpaulins, buckets, mosquito nets, etc.) will be distributed in Grenada and Saint-Vincent-les-Grenadines from stocks pre-positioned by the French Red Cross in Martinique.
In addition to this initial assistance, we need to anticipate the need for long-term support. To meet the needs of those affected by this disaster as closely as possible, we need financial donations and cannot accept donations in kind. You can make a donation on this page: https://donner.croix-rouge.fr/pirac
