KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) — The United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) started the distribution of emergency food assistance to people severely affected by Hurricane Beryl on the islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada.

WFP said the southern islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines, along with Carriacou and Petite Martinique in Grenada, have experienced “total devastation and isolation” due to a direct hit by the hurricane.

“Agriculture and fisheries have suffered significant damage. For residents of the hardest-hit areas, this disaster compounds existing economic challenges, particularly access to nutritious diets for the most vulnerable members of the community.”

WFP said it has rapidly mobilised 5,000 food kits consisting of canned and dry food and cooking oil, enough to feed 15,000 people for 10 days.

It said half of the supplies were purchased and packed in neighbouring Barbados and shipped to Kingstown, in a joint effort between WFP, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Barbados Defense Force and civil society.

“The UN World Food Programme is committed to supporting hurricane-hit communities whose lives and livelihoods have been torn apart by this hurricane,” said Brian Bogart, director designate of WFP’s Caribbean multi-country office.

“Our teams are working around the clock to deliver food and other critical assistance to the hardest-hit locations.”

WFP said it is also providing “vital logistics support” to the wider humanitarian response as part of its partnership with CDEMA and arranged the shipment of relief items including 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 mobilised “badly-needed” trucks and forklifts to support the handling and dispatch of relief items. It said this logistics support has been possible through support from USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance.

“We are witnessing first-hand the impact of the climate crisis on the thousands of people whose lives and livelihoods have been upended by this hurricane. Small island developing states in the Caribbean are at the sharp end of the climate crisis and are victims of a crisis not of their own making,” Bogart said.

“We need investments to help these people recover and become more resilient to these escalating natural hazards,” he added.

The WFP is working alongside regional and national response agencies embedding personnel in the response efforts of hard-hit countries including St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Jamaica to provide expertise in emergency response, logistics and telecommunications, and offer support in critical areas.

Bogart said WFP is also working with local authorities and partners to conduct needs assessments to identify areas and communities in need of humanitarian support.

WFP was opened in 2018 and covers 22 countries and territories across the English and Dutch Caribbean.

Meanwhile, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said it is supporting Caribbean governments after the impact of Hurricane Beryl.

“The weather phenomenon has had severe effects on agriculture, threatening food security and the livelihoods of small producers,” said the FAO, stating that, as part of the United Nations Emergency Technical Teams (UNETT), it is deployed in the areas affected by Hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean to advance rapid needs assessment and preparation of proposals under the leadership of CDEMA to restore production and livelihoods.

The FAO said it is supporting through damage and needs assessment using drones and satellite remote sensing.

The FAO said that according to the assessments carried out so far,  the primary humanitarian needs for the food security sector are focused on restoring the fishing capacity of artisanal fishermen and actors involved in the value chain including processing, conservation and transformation equipment and infrastructure providing planting materials to recover affected crops.

The FAO said access to rural areas remains a challenge, noting that authorities estimate over US$6.4 million in damage to the agricultural sector.