Last month, the La Soufriere volcano erupted on our neighbouring island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, displacing 20% of the island’s population. With the entire Caribbean already reeling from the effects of the COVID crisis, this latest disaster is truly a crisis within a crisis.
The pain of the La Soufriere eruption is felt deeply by all Caribbean people. As Bahamians, we lived through a similar crisis ourselves not too long ago. Hurricane Dorian, which struck in 2019, caused $3.4 billion worth of damage to our nation, killing 74 people, and leaving hundreds more missing. The damage of the La Soufriere eruption is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions, meaning St. Vincent will need a disaster relief programme similar to the Hurricane Dorian relief fund which helped to get the Bahamas back on track.
Relief efforts are tough to manage. Although the World Bank has pledged $20 million to support the Government and the country’s recovery and require the support of those that live in the nations as well as those that live far beyond. When Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas, it was Bahamians that came together to assist with managing the fallout for people across the country, assisting with evacuation efforts and the distribution of essential supplies.
Possessing direct experience of living through a natural disaster, as well as coordinating a response to one, I am deeply attuned to the difficulties facing the people of St. Vincent as they emerge from this crisis. In 2019, our own organisation, the Fox Foundation, was involved in taking private vessels to Abaco to assist with the evacuation efforts, as well as partnering with the Buddy Hield Foundation to distribute food, water, and generators to all those affected by the hurricane. It also launched a Go Fund Me campaign to reach donors from around the world, to help with the ongoing devastation that the island still faces today.
It is encouraging to see that a similar initiative has been launched by St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and that the United Nations has launched a funding appeal to support the island through what will likely be a long and difficult recovery. But no amount of effort is enough – countries emerging from disasters must do all they can to ensure they get all the support that might be available to them, by whatever means possible. It is these efforts at the citizen level that can make the most difference in the short-term to people having to get through disaster.
It is also good to see other Caribbean countries and organisations, like the Bermuda Red Cross, stepping up to help St. Vincent as well. And our own Prime Minister, Dr. Hubert Minnis, said that the Cabinet would do all it could to assist. The launch of the appeal will help thousands who have been forced out of their homes and provide water to those who have seen it cut off. As eruptions may continue for many days, the overall damage of the disaster is something we may not be able to calculate for some time yet. Given the Bahamian government’s own precarious financial state, the country may not be able to give much in financial support, but its calls to action will hopefully inspire others to give what they can, where they can.
Disaster relief efforts are about harnessing that pure emotional empathy that each and every one of us feels when confronted with such devastation. But given the amount of devastation we are faced with, particularly as media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic makes it difficult for us to surmount the energy to read of other disasters in places that do not concern us, the communication of disaster relief efforts can be just as important as the execution. Just because Caribbean countries might not immediately jump to mind as places which need aid, doesn’t mean that they should be neglected. We must do all we can to help the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines recover from this immense tragedy, particularly as further eruptions may exacerbate the country’s existing COVID situation.
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