Northern Bahamas ravaged by 'disaster of epic proportions' as UN releases $1 million in emergency funds

Following the “terrible devastation” of parts of the northern Bahamas in the Caribbean caused by Hurricane Dorian, Secretary-General António Guterres has said he “remains deeply concerned” for those thousands impacted by the giant storm. The UN’s relief chief, Mark Lowcock, travelled to the island nation to meet Government leaders and help expedite a life-saving aid operation.

The UN chief said in a statement that he was especially concerned “for the tens of thousands of people affected in Grand Bahamas and Abaco. He offers his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the disaster and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured.”

Mr. Guterres said the UN was supporting the ongoing Government-led rescue and relief efforts and was contributing assessment teams to join others deploying to the affected areas.

“People who have lost everything urgently need shelter, safe drinking water, food and medicine” he added, calling on donors to provide emergency funding for the humanitarian response and recovery efforts, “as soon as the requirements are known.”

Rescuers have now begun to reach the worst-hit parts of the archipelago, which consists of around 700 islands stretching across more than 100,000 square miles of the ocean after Dorian made landfall at the weekend as a Category 5 hurricane.

Aerial images show a major level of destruction on the ground, and the official death toll of eight is expected to rise. The hurricane remained over the north-west Bahamas for one and a half days, before weakening and moving away towards the coast of Florida.

Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, down the line from the Bahamas, Mr. Lowcock said that the damage was on an “enormous scale” causing “vast devastation” and leaving around 70,000 in need of life-saving aid on the two islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco.

Following further aerial surveys and more data collection “hopefully, very soon after that, we will be able to get teams on the ground” he said, adding that he had told the Bahamian Prime Minister that he would release $1 million “immediately, from the Central Emergency Response Fund, to deal with exactly the set of priorities that he has identified”.

Original source: UN News
Published on 04 September 2019