The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) held a press conference about the response to Hurricane Beryl on Wednesday. Multiple Caribbean islands have been impacted by the storm including Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Dominica and Tobago.
At the press event held in Bridgetown, Barbados CDEMA Executive Director, Elizabeth Riley said, “what we have done is try to strategically utilize those states which have not been under threat to provide the horizontal cooperation support and we’ve collaborated very closely with our partners. I explained a bit earlier how we’re working very closely with the UN agencies to support the efforts as well as some private sector entities such as NGOs. Bahamas has also placed teams on standby for support to Jamaica as well and they are in the northwestern subregion and we do have an arrangement with the international militaries that support our regional response mechanism through our multi national Caribbean cell.”
Discussions are being held to make accommodations available for people displaced by Hurricane Beryl. Riley said, “we are having discussions around the provision of temporary shelter but of course it is of a major concern that we’ve had such catastrophic destruction to buildings, housing and general shelter options in countries in what we know is a very active hurricane season.”
According to the CDEMA Executive Director a cost for the damage across the Caribbean is not yet known. She also said that St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada have requested that donations be sent in cash only.
