Attachments
A. SITUATION ANALYSIS
Description of the crisis
Prior to Hurricane Beryl hitting Grenada on July 1, 2024, the Government of Grenada had declared a water crisis (effective May 12, 2024) due to an acute shortage of water resources. Although the water use restrictions were lifted on June 18, 2024, people were still being affected by water regulation schedules as the water authority was not yet back to full capacity and normal operating conditions. Therefore, portions of the population, primarily in the south of Grenada, were already facing vulnerabilities related to water shortages.
Grenada is exposed to several natural hazards and has historical experience being impacted by cyclones, floods, droughts, landslides, rock falls, earthquakes, forest fires, road accidents, and epidemics. Generally, natural disasters and climate change are existential threats to Grenada, with annual losses from these events estimated at 1.7 percent of its GDP.
Grenada is highly vulnerable across a range of domains to the impacts of these hazards and has suffered significant losses from previous impacts over time. These domains include physical vulnerability, economic vulnerability, social vulnerability, political vulnerability, educational vulnerability, and environmental vulnerability.
In Grenada, Hurricane Beryl made landfall on July 1, 2024, as a Category 4 hurricane, causing three deaths, and evacuating more than 1,600 people to collective shelters. More than 98 percent of the infrastructure on the Carriacou and Petit Martinique islands was severely affected (damaged or destroyed), while most of the health facilities were compromised, as well as the terminal building at the Carriacou airport.
Severity of humanitarian conditions
Impact on accessibility, availability, quality, use and awareness of goods and services:
1. The economic impact of the crisis is significant. The agricultural sector experienced significant destruction in the northern part of Grenada. Farmers, who depend heavily on water for irrigation, were severely affected by the drought, which has now been compounded by subsequent crop and water infrastructure damage due to the hurricane. This has led to decreased agricultural productivity and impacting food security and livelihoods. These impacts are evident on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique in addition to the near total destruction of the built and natural environments, including damage to the pots and fishing boats. The government has responded with immediate relief of in-kind food distributions.
2. Housing has been damaged or destroyed in all the affected areas (northern Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique). Two shelters for displaced persons remain open in Grenada, as well as approximately five shelters on Carriacou/Petit Martinique. New shelters were opened on the sister islands to compensate for overcrowding in the existing shelters. Significant damage to physical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and public buildings, impacted access to affected populations. To address these access issues, the government organized a national cleanup campaign on July 6, 2024, in St. Andrew and St. Mark, and on July 7, 2024, in St. Patrick. Power and telecommunications have either been destroyed (Carriacou and Petite Martinique) or was significantly damaged (northern Grenada), especially in St. Patrick, where over 98% of the area stayed offline as of July 4, 2024, and was not expected to recover for another week. Power and telecommunication as of the date of this update, is recovered.
3. Initially, water infrastructure was also significantly affected, with water treatment systems in St. Andrew offline as of July 4, 2024. These distribution systems are now operating. Supplemental water trucking and storage was implemented as a temporary measure, including at health centres affected by the water infrastructure damages. The water desalination plants on Carriacou and Petite Martinique suffered damage to the feed pumps, inlet and pump house (Petite Martinique). Both treatment plants are now operational; however, the community is not using the water for drinking due to its taste. In addition to the desalination plants, household water storage tanks and cisterns have either been destroyed or compromised, requiring replacement or water treatment.
Impact on physical and mental wellbeing:
As over 95% of housing, livelihoods and assets have been affected, including clinics, daycares, hospitals, aged care homes, and social services, there is a need for psychosocial support, particularly for the elderly, children, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups. The government of Grenada deployed a psychosocial support team to Carriacou and Martinique, as well as northern Grenada, and assessments are currently being conducted together with the Ministry of Education, UNICEF, and UN Women. Due to the near total devastation in Carriacou and Petite Martinique, the elderly are being relocated to Grenada for basic needs and geriatric care. The World Food Program is reportedly implementing immediate cash transfers to vulnerable groups. The government of Grenada has also activated its gender-based violence and child protection hotline. Other programs include trauma therapy, return to happiness program for children, and caring for carers parental program. Lower income housing is also being made available for persons who have been displaced.
Risks & vulnerabilities
Grenada is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, as evidenced by the impacts of extreme events and occurrences of increased forest fires, crop loss, water shortages and incidence of pests and disease occurring in recent years. Grenada's key economic sectors like agriculture and tourism are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Notably, Hurricane Ivan in 2004 caused damages of over 200 percent of GDP and almost 2 decades later the country is still recovering from some of this damage.
The operational capacity of the Grenada Red Cross Society (GRCS) has been reduced due to the disaster as community disaster response team members have been severely impacted by the hurricane, especially in Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Therefore, surge support will be provided for operational management and other key thematic areas, and the operation will also be closely monitored by the country cluster delegation in Port of Spain.