First shipment of Guyana’s relief supplies arrives in Beryl-ravaged Grenada

Last Updated on Tuesday, 2 July 2024, 20:10 by Writer

Guyana’s Civil Defence Commission (CDC) said the first shipment of relief aid to Grenada from Guyana has arrived in the hurricane-affected country where three people were killed by Beryl.

The relief items included generators, water purification tablets, chainsaws, batteries, hygiene items and other necessities. CDC Director General, Retired Colonel Nazrul Hussain officially handed over the items to Grenada’s Minister for Climate Resilience, the Environment and Renewable Energy, the Honourable Kerryne James at the Maurice Bishop International Airport.

The CDC said its staff and members of the CDC Volunteer Corps packed relief hampers for residents of Grenada. “Items such as tarpaulins, chain saws, generators, batteries, torchlights, safety vests, hygiene items, water purification tablets and collapsible water bottles were dispatched early this morning via GDF Guyana aircraft,” the CDC said.

President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday released pictures of the GDF SkyVan packed with an assortment of items, hours after Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said he was expecting an aircraft from Guyana with much needed items. “In the case of Guyana, the plane is already loaded…Even if the plane lands in Carriacou, we have to be able to move within Carriacou so we want to make sure that that takes place first so that when the relief supplies coming via the airport or the port, we could actually get them to the villages within the island,” the Grenadian leader told a news conference.

Mr Mitchell said he had specifically requested helicopter assistance as an “immediate need” to access Carriacou where almost all of the buildings have been flattened, telecommunication services have been cut and there is no fuel for heavy duty machinery.

The Prime Minister said one person died in Grenada when a tree fell on a house while Hurricane Beryl slammed the islands. Across in Carriacou, he said two other persons perished. A number of houses, the police headquarters and a hospital in Grenada were damaged by the storm.

The St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves said one person died on sister-island Bequia. There were no immediate reports of deaths on Union Island where he said 90 percent of the buildings and the airport buildings were badly damaged or destroyed.

Dr Gonsalves said President Ali had promised to send a quantity of construction materials.