PRESS RELEASE – THE U.S. government provided nearly $18.7 million to date in humanitarian assistance to Caribbean countries devastated by hurricanes Irma, Jose, and Maria through the United States Agency for International Development’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA). The office remains focused on supporting national governments to transition from immediate emergency response to relief and longer-term recovery efforts.
Specifically, USAID has contributed an additional US$3.25 million to the Dominica relief and recovery response, supporting the provision of critical health; livelihoods; shelter; and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) assistance to hurricane-affected households throughout the island, with the help of international humanitarian partner organizations.
Of the US$3.25 million, Samaritan’s Purse received US$2.5 million to provide shelter and WASH assistance, which included the installation of four mobile water treatment plants to provide access to safe drinking water for an estimated 10,800 people per day. Emergency health assistance was also provided by the Pan American Health Organization following a US$250,000 award. A US$500,000 award to the International Federation of the Red Cross facilitated cash transfers to vulnerable families that enabled householders to purchase priority needs, while increasing communities’ purchasing power and boosting local economic recovery.
Over the course of the response, USAID has to date airlifted a total of 162 metric tonnes of relief items to five hurricane-affected countries: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Sint Maarten. An on-the-ground USAID team continues to monitor the humanitarian response, support response coordination at Dominica’s Emergency Operations Center, and implement and coordinate early recovery activities in the wider region.