Attachments
Description of the disaster
Since 29 December 2020, the La Soufrière volcano alert level in St. Vincent and the Grenadines was elevated due to increased volcanic activity. By 8 April 2021, the alert level increased to Red, with government authorities issuing immediate evacuation orders. On 9 April 2021, La Soufrière erupted for the first time after 40 years, sending an ash plume of 10km into the sky. Subsequent multiple eruptions occurred, and several severe tropical storms and rain events initially hampered the clean-up operations and slowed down the recovery phase of the operation. While heavy ashfall did initially impact the surrounding islands, this did not however continue and the surrounding islands of Barbados, Grenada, and St Lucia avoided having significant damage or evacuation notices.
At its peak, the eruption displaced more than 13,300 people across public and private collective centres, with almost all of St. Vincent's 110,600 population being indirectly affected by ashfall, water restrictions, loss of income, and house rental shortages.
The red and orange zones were designated as being safe for people to return in September by NEMO, with all government managing collective shelters closing on 31 March 2022. Despite the significant amount of work that has been completed, several families continue to live with host families, or in transitional arrangements while they worked to repair or rebuild homes damaged by the eruption. Furthermore, livelihood activities were severely constrained in 2021, which placed an even greater burden on households as it compounded the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic that started in March 2020.
Summary of the response
Overview of Host National Societies Response Action
The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Red Cross (SVGRC) worked closely with the national authorities to support families to evacuate from the red and orange zones and continued to provide food parcels and other in-kind donations to those households through bilateral donations and partnerships. The following actions have been implemented by the National Society as part of the response effort:
• 291 Multipurpose cash grants distributed to households during the emergency phase of the response.
• 230 supermarket vouchers were provided to households during the emergency phase.
• Distribution of relief items providing items such as blankets, water, mosquito nets, tarpaulins, and wheelbarrows for 1,713 families.
• 3,265 cleaning kits for households have been distributed.
• 74 families (240 people) have been supported to relocate out of communal shelters and into transitional rental accommodation (191 grants by IFRC + 201 grants through bi-lateral funds)
• 2,398 hygiene kits have been provided to households.
• 257 shelter tool kits have been distributed.
• Supported the establishment and provisioning of 11 child-friendly spaces in communal shelters for 1,018 children.
• Trained Psychosocial support (PSS) teams to assist with ‘Return to Happiness’ programme in collaboration with UNICEF and the Ministry of Social Development, and the Department of Child Welfare.
• Provided 667 PSS kits for children to support them to return to school.
• Distributed PPE items to 1,713 families receiving items such as face masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer to ensure a COVID19- safe environment.
• 400 wall-mounted sanitizer units installed in classrooms, health clinics, and community-managed buildings.
• A total of 312 families have been reached by the Livelihood program, which focused on improving income generation for the households involved.