EMERGENCY humanitarian and ‘recovery’ aid have been flowing into St. Vincent and the Grenadines following the widespread sectoral damages and destruction from hurricane ‘Tomas’ on October 30.

The variety of aid sources, as disclosed in a statement to the country’s parliament on Tuesday and released Wednesday, include regional and international donor governments and agencies and institutions.

After earlier unleashing severe batterings on Jamaica, ‘Tomas’ was to create havoc in other CARICOM states, among them St. Lucia, St. Vincent and, to a lesser extent, Barbados.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves told parliament that there was “almost total destruction of the agricultural sector” with estimated cost of damages placed at EC$67.2 million and rehabilitation and income support for farmers totalling an additional EC$6.7 million. Damages and destruction to houses totalled 1,200.

He said the government would be providing “humanitarian aid” to the affected hurricane victims and was appreciative of the responses that have been forthcoming from various overseas sources.
These donors he listed include, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), World Bank, CARICOM Development Fund (CDF); European Union; United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); United States Agency for International Development (USAID); and countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, Japan, Australia and Taiwan.