LocationsUNDP part of multi-agency response to Hurricane Beryl
December 2, 2024
UNDP Resident Representative, Limya Eltayeb (centre), with Union Island residents and other national stakeholders.
Hurricane Beryl made landfall in the Eastern Caribbean on July 1, bringing winds from 155 mph to 160 mph and later becoming the first hurricane on record to reach Category 5 so early in the Atlantic. The northern Grenadine islands of Carriacou, Petite Martinique, and parts of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines were severely affected, with entire communities were flooded, houses and buildings destroyed and livelihoods wiped out.
The coordinated response from UN agencies was immediate, with some immediately engaged in the emergency phase and others continuing support throughout recovery. UNDP’s Crisis Bureau and the Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, deployed personnel to Grenada, Carriacou, St. Vincent and Union Island to lay the groundwork for Post-Disaster Needs Assessments (PDNAs).
July 2024 – Early recovery work
September 2024 – Community Support
UNDP Resident Representative, Limya Eltayeb, and the SVG in-country team visited Union Island to deliver essential materials provided through the Ridge to Reef project. These materials support ongoing recovery and resilience-building efforts after Hurricane Beryl.
The team, alongside the Union Island Environmental Alliance (UIEA) and national partners, visited various locations across the island, meeting with members of the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the Local NEMO Committee to discuss key recovery efforts and ongoing challenges.
Our @UNDPBarbadosEC Rep. @EltayebLimya & SVG team visited Union Island 🇻🇨, part of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, to deliver essential materials through the Ridge to Reef project, supporting recovery after Hurricane Beryl. #UnionIsland #Resilience #RidgeToReef pic.twitter.com/saywGLNGT7
— UNDP Barbados & the Eastern Caribbean (@UNDPBarbadosEC) September 30, 2024
November 2024 – Capacity Building
The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Agency (CDEMA) with funding support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched a five-day training in the application of the Code of Practice (CoP) for Residential Construction for public technical officers in Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
In Grenada, 14 participants were drawn from the Development Control and Compliance Team of the Planning and Development Authority (PDA), while in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the training was delivered to 17 members of Building Staff of the Physical Development Corporation.
The CoP is designed to guide quality housing construction and was developed as a collaboration between CDEMA, CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) and the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies (CANTA).
The training programme focused on the application of the CoP in the appraisal and monitoring of residential development applications as well as residential construction practices to ensure quality and hazard resilient housing stock.
The training targets forms part of a broader effort to support resilience building of the housing sector following the devastating impacts of Hurricane Beryl which devastated the north of mainland Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines in June 2024. The exercise will also incorporate a review of the application approval process within the PDA and make recommendations to improve processing efficiency.
The training was conducted by Dr. Grenville Phillips, a regional Structural Engineer and a key contributor to the development of the seminal CARICOM Regional Standard CRS 10: 2023, Construction of Houses — Code of Practice (CoP).
