Latin America & The Caribbean Weekly Situation Update as of 12 July 2024

CARIBBEAN: HURRICANE BERYL

Humanitarian teams, including those from OCHA and UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC), are collaborating with authorities in Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica to complete assessments and deliver assistance to affected areas. The thousands of people driven to shelter after severe damage to housing and water, power and health services are now trying to pick up the pieces as authorities work to finish restoring basic services. Some people in the smaller islands are setting up makeshift shelters in schools and churches due to damage to emergency shelters, and evacuations to the mainland of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are ongoing.

Response: In the Eastern Caribbean, partners and authorities are navigating significant access and logistics challenges to fully assess the impact of one of the worst storms ever recorded in Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. In Jamaica, partners are closely coordinating with the Government to support the response, providing technical assistance for assessments and analysis.

Partners are assisting Government-led responses focused on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), shelter and non-food items (NFIs), health, food security and livelihoods, protection, logistics, and telecommunications. Currently, 27 organizations are registered in the three countries, working across 16 sectors.

Financing: The UN and its partners are scaling up their response, launching a US$9 million plan to assist 43,000 potentially affected people in Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, following a recent US$4 million allocation from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) that also includes Jamaica.

COLOMBIA: CONFINEMENT
Areas including Flor Amarillo, Santo Domingo, and Morichal de Bochalema in the municipality of Tame of the Arauca department have been forcibly confined due to clashes between two non-state armed groups (NSAGs). Access to essential goods and services such as education, healthcare, and food supplies could be severely affected, creating an impact for about 4,000 people in Tame. Additionally, the areas of Veredas Lejanías, Galaxias, Cesar, Cuiloto 2 and Normandía are experiencing shortages of basic supplies, limited access to services, and restricted rights due to mobility restrictions and ongoing combat between an NSAG and the National Army, affecting approximately 500 people in Arauquita municipality.

BRAZIL: FLOOD RESPONSE
After nearly two and a half months since record-setting rain on 29 April affected 2.3 million people across 497 municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the UN and its partners continue to support national and local government responses, focusing on at-risk groups. Response teams are concentrating their efforts on education, health, protection, shelter, coordination, and water and sanitation.

Despite early recovery efforts and the gradual restoration of basic services, Civil Protection reports that 386,045 people remain displaced, with 5,340 still in 136 temporary shelters. The death toll has risen to 181, with 32 people still missing and 806 injured. Although water levels have receded and several areas are now accessible for humanitarian aid, forecasts predict more rain.