Six months after the explosive eruption of the La Soufriere volcano on April 9th the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Red Cross is continuing to provide assistance in the post recovery phase.
The organisation says in a Media Release that it been working alongside several government ministries on varying projects to facilitate and further support the recovery phase for persons whose lives and livelihood have been affected.
The SVGRC continues to distribute food and non-food items in communities across the country which saw an increase from 1100 persons to 4000 affected persons receiving assistance. The private and business sector as well as faith based organisation have also received support from the SVGRC.
Close to 300 persons benefited from the Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA). Through this programme many were able to pay their rent and other amenities. There continues to be a lot of emphasis being placed towards the support of persons who are returning to their communities.
Community residents have been uniting to embark on a clean-up response and the SVGRC team has supported these efforts through the distribution of wheel barrows, shovels, and garden tools.
The SVG Red Cross also embarked on different programmes which were focussed on children who were affected by the volcanic eruption.
The Child Friendly Spaces programme were able to highlight the importance of psychosocial support and this resulted in over 400 children benefitting through the distribution of children kits.
Two months ago, the government declared the all clear for persons to safely return to their homes. The SVGRC team played an integral role by assisting in the closing of most schools that were used as shelters.
However, returning home has not been possible for some families whose homes were destroyed during the volcanic eruption. The organisation has been in collaboration with the ministry of National mobilisation, Social development, family, gender affairs, youth, housing and informal human settlement to embark on a Rental Support programme to facilitate persons who are unable to return home. 53 families (170) persons from 11 schools were able to benefit through this program.
The organisation is looking at ways where they can continue to help affected persons and according to the Operations Manager within the SVGRC, Julia Simmons, there are assessments which are still ongoing to support the fishing & farming industries, cottage industries and livestock farming. Hundreds of affected persons whose livelihoods were hampered during and after the volcanic eruption are expected to benefit through these initiatives.
With the recent spike in Covid-19 infection rates and the unfortunate deaths, the SVGRC team has doubled its efforts and paired the volcanic eruption response with that of the Covid-19 and has lent support to the taxi drivers and public transport operators with items to help practice and further encourage health and safety during their daily operations, interfacing with the public.
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