Caricom prepares earthquake aid shipment for Venezuela, with St Kitts pledging containers
Guyana is leading a regional relief effort, with a vessel able to carry up to 8,000 tons of supplies due to sail on July 3 as Venezuela’s death toll nears 1,500.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana. Caribbean Community nations said on June 28 that they were preparing to send aid collectively through Guyana to neighbouring Venezuela, which was hit by two earthquakes last week.
Guyana, the regional headquarters nation, said it would load supplies raised locally and from member states onto a vessel scheduled to sail on July 3. The ship is expected to reach Venezuela in about two days.
Officials said the vessel could carry up to 8,000 tons of food, water, clothing, medical supplies and recovery equipment. The death toll in Venezuela has climbed to nearly 1,500, with further fatalities expected.
Regional contributions
President Irfaan Ali said authorities in St Kitts would send at least three containers of food and other supplies, while Antigua has said it will contribute $150,000. Jamaica and Barbados are among member states that have pledged to take part and are likely to send their contributions this week.
“We are responding to one of the greatest humanitarian needs as a result of a disaster in Venezuela on a scale and magnitude that is unimaginable. As a good neighbour we must reach out,” Ali told a press briefing.
He said Guyana had so far mobilised close to 100 containers, including five with critical pharmaceuticals, rice, milk products and diapers. “The need is immense. This is not an easy task. It is an immense logistics operation,” he said. Guyanese soldiers are also being sent to help with recovery efforts.
Officials said a second vessel was available to ship further supplies. Ali said the private sector was “critically involved” in planning the operation, and that Venezuelan nationals living in Guyana and the wider Guyanese public had responded “in an unbelievable way.”
Antigua remembers
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne recalled Venezuela sending planes to evacuate residents of Barbuda after a recent hurricane, saying it was now the federation’s turn to reciprocate.
“That compassionate act of solidarity and good neighbourliness remains deeply etched in the memory of our nation,” Browne said.
