The European Union has approved additional funding to St. Lucia totalling 1.03 million euros (approx EC$3.6 million) as part of its assistance following the destruction caused by Hurricane Tomas last November. The emergency funding from the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Office (ECHO) will support operations carried out by the French Red Cross and the Food and Agriculture Organization immediately after the passage of Tomas and amounts to 580,000 euros and 450,000 euros respectively.
Actions associated with the EU contribution to the French Red Cross, which is being implemented in cooperation with the St. Lucian Red Cross, include facilitating the resettlement and early recovery of hurricane victims by ensuring 20,000 St. Lucians have direct access to potable water, preventing waterborne diseases, as well as providing housing support through training and construction.
The prime objective of the contribution to the FAO is to help 500 small holder banana growers to rehabilitate their land and introduce disaster risk management techniques, in addition to ensuring that 2,000 small holder farmers initiate back yard short cycle vegetable production using urban agriculture techniques.
Ongoing projects regarding education and community development in St. Lucia have also been allowed to re-focus part of their aid in order to target the worst affected schools and local communities respectively.
This complements a recent decision in favour of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for an additional 600,000 euros (EC $2.3 million) to be used for projects concerning School Furniture, Small Farmers Recovery, and Medical Supplies.
These allocations are in addition to the initial 200,000 euros (EC $727,000) from ECHO through the Pan American Health Organisation decided last November to restore health and sanitary conditions in St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines following hurricane Tomas. The assistance targeted such interventions as ensuring safe water supply in health facilities, shelters and vulnerable households; safe waste disposal, vector control activities and the reestablishment of health coverage. This brings the overall EU assistance to St. Lucia and St. Vincent after Tomas to over 1.8 million euros.
In parallel, the European Union has also contributed 12.5 million euros towards the establishment of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF). The CCRIF provided US$3.2 million to St. Lucia, US$8.5 million to Barbados and US$1.1 million to St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a result of damage sustained during the passage of Tomas.
In addition the EU's Disaster Preparedness Programme, which commenced operations in the Caribbean in 1998, has programmed 21 million euros towards disaster preparedness programmes with the help of NGOs, the Red Cross, UN agencies and other regional partners. The EU also contributes significantly to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and at present has two programmes with that agency totalling 5.268 million euros.
