La Soufrière volcano is active, hurricane season has begun, what lies ahead for the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines?
On Friday 9th April the La Soufrière Volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, began erupting and started the beginning of what has become a humanitarian crisis as declared by the UN. The volcano has erupted numerous times since, expelling ash into the air which has blanketed the island and destroyed crops, property, water supplies and infrastructure. Flooding and landslides began with the onset of the hurricane season, so the situation has got worse almost a month on in this, a commonwealth country.
- 19% of the population (20,000 people) have been displaced from their homes in what was the high alert and extremely dangerous Red Zone, the area closest to the volcano – NEMO SVG
- The economy and jobs which highly depends on tourism and agriculture is suffering further on top of the pandemic, due to the natural disasters.
- Before the floods and landslides the cost of recovery was forecast to be an estimated 50% of the country’s GDP according to Channel 4’ sources. What will the cost be now?
UK- SVG Friendship Trust is working with the St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) High Commission in the UK to fundraise and galvanise support and assistance for the Volcano and flood hit island. With the long road to recovery ahead we and our ambassador Donna Fraser OBE, would like to drive further awareness and engagement in the UK with your help.
We have been working with partners on the ground to provide support and have started to spend in St. Vincent on much needed aid to meet immediate needs with a focus on high risk groups such as young people, the disabled community and women. This week we made a big step as we partnered with the St. Vincent Cooperative Bank, one of the oldest indigenous banks. We have deposited a substantial amount of funds in St. Vincent to enable us to be more agile in providing financial support to projects on the ground.
Education and supporting getting our children back on track after a double-hit of the pandemic and natural disaster will have affected their progress, is also a major priority. We are committed to supporting St. Vincent in the short and long-term and we ask our donors and friends to continue to talk about the crisis, share content relating to the crisis and the recovery, put on fundraisers and donate to support the recovery. We must maintain momentum so that St Vincent can rise again.
So please continue to support us in our efforts in whatever way you can through sharing our blog posts, liking and sharing our social media content or continuing to donate if you can. You can find all our social media links and donate link here: @UKSVGFRIENDS | Linktree