Ever since Hurricane Beryl ravaged a number of Caribbean islands in its passage final week, nationals in New York have stepped up aid efforts to help their homeland.
Many are additionally providing prayers for nationals notably these of St. Vincent and the Grenadines – notably Union Island, Canouan, Mayreau and Palm Island; Grenada – notably Carriacou and Petite Martinique; and Jamaica, notably the agricultural areas.
On Tuesday, the Brooklyn-based St. Vincent and the Grenadines Reduction, USA, Inc. mentioned in a press release that Hurricane Beryl has “taken its toll on our beloved nation of SVG (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), and it’s possible you’ll be questioning how and when this collective physique goes to reply.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Reduction Committee mentioned government members met by way of Zoom with Consul Common to the USA Rondy McIntosh to formulate a plan to execute aid efforts for our nation.”
The Reduction Committee met on Saturday and Sunday, July 7, 2024, at Mates of Crown Heights, 671 Prospect Place in Brooklyn, from 10 a.m. to eight p.m., to gather donations of things, in addition to financial donations.
“A number of stakeholders have been contacted to make all the required preparations to get these things into St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” the assertion mentioned.
McIntosh advised Caribbean Life Thursday morning: “That is our time to activate and present our brothers and sisters at house that they don’t seem to be alone.
“SVG (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), we’ll rise once more,” he added.
As nationals gathered provides and donations on the Mates of Crown Heights on Sunday, McIntosh mentioned he was “grateful for all of the prayers and sentiments for all these affected by Hurricane Beryl in our candy St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“We’re much more grateful for all who’ve made tangible contributions to the assorted aid efforts,” he advised Caribbean Life. “We are able to guarantee you that your provides will get to our individuals within the shortest attainable time.
“Let me additionally take this chance to guarantee all affected that we within the Diaspora are right here to help you, and we’re all on this collectively,” the consul normal added. “We’re happy with the contributions up to now, however we’re asking individuals to succeed in out and make a contribution.”
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Reduction, USA, Inc. Chair Verna Arthur additionally advised Caribbean Life that she hopes donations will intensify.
“Regardless of the donations, we’ll get by this,” she mentioned, referring to rehabilitation from the hurricane’s onslaught. “Our stunning nations should not on this alone. We’re going to get higher. A pair years in the past, we (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) have been ravaged by volcano (La Soufriere’s volcanic eruptions), and we did this effort.
Arthur mentioned her committee is specializing in gadgets required by the Nationwide Emergency Administration Group (NEMO) in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, akin to turbines, cots and tarpaulins, in addition to financial donations.
“At the moment, they don’t seem to be accumulating gadgets of clothes, water and meals,” she mentioned, referring to NEMO.
Dr. Kinta Alexander, a local of Union Island, who lives in Brooklyn, additionally mentioned on Sunday that 99 % of properties in Union Island have been destroyed by Hurricane Beryl and that the island’s “hospital, colleges, faith-based organizations, shelters, companies, and even its airport have been obliterated.
“This devastation is private to us,” she mentioned in her attraction. “Why, you ask? Nicely, Union Island isn’t simply any island—it’s our island. We have been conceived, born, and raised there; our navel string is buried there. This little island is the place we discovered our ABCs and our life classes. It’s the place that turned me from a wide-eyed youngster into the individual I’m at this time.
“Think about, if you’ll, the island’s hospital—the place many Unionites first screamed our manner into the world—now silenced,” Dr. Alexander added. “The faculties that bore witness to our early (and let’s be sincere, typically misguided) educational makes an attempt, now rubble. The church buildings that heard our childhood prayers, the companies that thrived with the hustle and bustle of day by day life, all gone. And sure, the house the place I used to be conceived, birthed, and raised, now misplaced to the storm.
“As if the destruction weren’t sufficient, the dying toll of our beloved relations, schoolmates, and neighbors continues to rise,” she continued. “Every loss is a private blow, including to the collective grief of our tight-knit group.
“However in typical Union Island spirit, we received’t be saved down for lengthy,” she mentioned. “I’m reaching out to you, not simply to share the story of this calamity, however to rally some hope and help. Let’s sprinkle some love and kindness on Union Island, simply because it has sprinkled reminiscences and life classes.”
Dr. Alexander shares her checklist of wanted gadgets on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2FQ2HE5VIQZBA?ref=cm_sw_em_r_un_un_tM6V3WcAchqqX
Gadgets may also be shipped to: 18 Paerdegat 14th Road, Brooklyn NY, 11236.
On Sunday, the Caribbean Diaspora United (CDU), headed by former Grenada United Nations Ambassador Eugene Pursoo, mentioned it was “working with the Caribbean Consular Corps and the Caribbean Group in New York in organizing a donation marketing campaign to boost and transmit monetary help to the islands hit by Hurricane Beryl.”
The Brooklyn-based Help Each Life Past Yours (Selby, Inc.) can also be internet hosting a Hurricane Beryl Reduction Drive for Union Island, Bequia, Canouan, Mayreau and different islands of the St. Vincent Grenadine islands, in addition to mainland St. Vincent and Carriacou and Petite Martinique which are a part of the tri-island nation of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
The aid effort, which started on Wednesday, runs till July 31, and is supported by Sen. Kevin Parker; Meeting Members Brian A. Cunningham, Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, and Monique Chandler-Waterman; and Council Members Farah N. Louis, Mercedes Narcisse and Rita Joseph.
Bichotte Hermelyn, the Haitian-born chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Occasion, on Sunday urging Brooklynites to assist the Caribbean from injury wreaked by Hurricane Beryl by the aid drive listed under.
“I urge Brooklynites to rally collectively and provide help for the victims, and I additionally encourage you to be comforting neighbors for our borough’s outsized Caribbean group, lots of whom have family members overseas affected by the hurricane,” mentioned the consultant for the forty second Meeting District in Brooklyn.
“I pray for the individuals of the Caribbean, and for the individuals within the storm’s continued trajectory, and right here in Brooklyn, who’re feeling the ache of uncertainty, or deep loss,” she added. “I additionally remind our Caribbean group right here that you’re not alone, and that there are psychological well being sources to assist with any trauma.”
As Hurricane Beryl wreaks havoc within the Caribbean, Jamaica’s New York Consul Common Alsion Wilson final Wednesday interesting to members of the Jamaican Diaspora Group for “fervent prayer” and divine intervention.
“As Hurricane Beryl impacts our beloved homeland, Jamaica, we stand united in prayer and solidarity for the protection of all Jamaicans,” she mentioned. “I urge you to hitch me in fervent prayer for our mates and households again house, asking for divine safety and steerage throughout this difficult time.
“I perceive the nervousness and concern lots of you are feeling, particularly these mother and father who’ve despatched their youngsters to Jamaica for the summer time,” she added. “The separation out of your family members might be notably distressing throughout such unsure occasions. Please know that our ideas and prayers are with you and your youngsters.”
Wilson mentioned the Jamaica Consulate Common had already initiated discussions with numerous stakeholders, together with Diaspora leaders, to be ready to help within the aftermath of the hurricane, “ought to broad governmental help be required”.
Based on USA TODAY, “a extra full image emerged Wednesday of the intensive injury wrought by Hurricane Beryl’s trek throughout the Windward Islands, revealing destruction and at the least seven deaths.”
Counting on info from the Caribbean Catastrophe Emergency Administration Company, the newspaper mentioned “at the least three islands report greater than 90 % of the properties and buildings both destroyed or severely broken,” and that “all three are throughout the chain of Grenadine Islands, the place Beryl roared into the Caribbean on the southern finish of the Windwards, between St. Vincent and Grenada.”
On Tuesday, the United Nations known as for worldwide solidarity with Grenada, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and different Caribbean islands hit onerous by Hurricane Beryl.
UN Spokesperson Stephané Dujarric advised journalists on the common press briefing in New York that seven companies based mostly in Grenada and 9 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines “can be augmented by further UN emergency groups within the coming days.”
“Logistics are going to be a problem, given the islands’ dispersal, broken infrastructure and restricted accessibility,” he mentioned, including that the Secretary-Common is “very a lot interesting for sturdy worldwide solidarity” with Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the opposite islands which have been hit by the hurricane.
“These small island states that the Secretary-Common has typically visited are once more bearing the brunt of pure disasters,” Dujarric continued. “And it’s crucial that we see worldwide solidarity,” he added.
The UN mentioned Hurricane Beryl is simply simply the beginning of what’s forecast to be extraordinarily intense 2024 hurricane season, amid worsening impacts of local weather change.
The UN Spokesperson additionally voiced concern for Haiti, which was already in a dire state of affairs earlier than the hurricane.
“The safety state of affairs just isn’t making it any higher. We’re prepositioning, we’re prepared to assist as quickly because the storm hits and earlier than,” he mentioned.
Based on the UN Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), assist companies there are in shut contact with Haitian authorities have amplified early warning messages.
“UN companies, in fact, stand prepared to help and have already taken anticipatory measures,” Dujarric mentioned.
Additionally on Tuesday, the UN World Meteorological Group (WMO) raised alarm over the speed at which Hurricane Beryl intensified from a tropical melancholy to a Class 3 in 42 hours, and Class 4 in 48 hours.
“That is unprecedented for June however is according to the latest pattern in the direction of very fast intensification,” the company mentioned, recalling that such was the case with Hurricane Otis which grew to a Class 5 hurricane in a single day and hit the Mexican resort of Acapulco final October.
At the very least 52 individuals have been reported to have been killed by Hurricane Otis, and an additional 32 remained lacking, the UN mentioned.
WMO famous “file excessive” sea floor temperatures, warning that the stage is ready for an “particularly lively and harmful” hurricane season for all the basin – Atlantic, Caribbean and Central America.
“It takes only one landfalling hurricane to set again years of socio-economic growth. For instance Hurricane Maria in 2017 price Dominica 800 per cent of its Gross Home Product (GDP),” mentioned Ko Barrett, WMO deputy secretary-general.
Reduction gadgets wanted and places for donations:
1. Hurricane Beryl Reduction Drive: St. Vincent and the Grenadines Reduction USA, Inc.
2. Hurricane Beryl Reduction Drive: Many New Yorkers from the Caribbean are accumulating donations for his or her family members again house. Please see some GoFundMe hyperlinks: Assist Rebuild Lives in Carriacou Island; Carriacou Restoration from Hurricane Beryl; Ayuda tras el Huracán Beryla; Rebuild Carriacou: Help for Native Households!; Assist Drezelle’s Household Rebuild After Hurricane Beryl; Help St. Vincent’s Hurricane Restoration; Assist Pat Rebuild Carriacou (Grenada) After Hurricane Beryl; Hurricane Reduction for Carriacou & Petite Martinique
3. Hurricane Beryl Reduction Drive: Help Each Life Past Yours (Selby Inc.) Hurricane Beryl Reduction Drive for Union Island, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Carriacou, Bequia, Grenada and Petite Martinique’s assortment dates for donations, July 3 to July 31, 2024. For extra info, e-mail selbyvillas@gmail.com or name 917-773-8252. It’s also possible to go to: https://www.fb.com/100010828057842/posts/2164903973880517/?mibextid=xfxF2i&rdid=YcveLQZxljJ23e8x
Urgently Wanted Gadgets:
• Water
• Important Drugs & First Support
• Cots & Sleeping Baggage
• Pillows & Sleeping Blankets
• Non-Perishable & Canned Meals
• Flashlight & Batteries
• Cleaning soap Powder
• Diapers, Wipes and Method
• Tarpaulin & Tents
• Toiletries & hygiene kits
Gadgets could also be dropped off at:
DOWNSTATE MEDICAL CENTER
450 Clarkson Avenue
(Mon-Friday)
open 24 hours a day
GOD’S BATTALION OF PRAYER
780 Schenectady Avenue Monday – Friday
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
CHRIST AMBASSADOR MINISTRIES
5007 Beverly Street
Monday – Friday
5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
BK COMMUNITY BOAD 17
4112 Farragut Street
Monday – Friday
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Council District Workplace 45
1434 Flatbush Avenue
Monday – Friday
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
