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The United States Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is committed to assist countries in the Caribbean in their reconstruction efforts, after the recent destruction caused by hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne.
The approval of the reconstruction package would boost total U.S. contributions to Caribbean relief efforts to $63.3 million according to Adolfo Franco, assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Franco explained that these monies would be in addition to -- not subtracted from -- the $230 million that the United States pledged in July to finance the reconstruction of Haiti.
The United States has responded very quickly to the recent hurricanes and tropical storms that devastated Haiti and other Caribbean nations, allocating over $13 million to support humanitarian and reconstruction efforts, Franco said.
In October 1 remarks at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, Franco noted that the United States has already provided approximately $5 million in assistance to the Caribbean and redirected an additional $8.6 million to support relief efforts in the region. He pointed out that, as part of a comprehensive U.S. response to the series of hurricanes and tropical storms that recently hit the region, President Bush also has requested an additional $50 million in supplemental spending to fund a reconstruction aid package for the Caribbean.
Of the $13.3 million in regional humanitarian and reconstruction assistance already identified, $5.3 million has been earmarked for Haiti, $3.3 million for Grenada, $4.2 million for Jamaica, $400,000 for the Bahamas and $50,000 each for the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Franco said that the focus of USAID's relief efforts is to ensure that the basic necessities -- namely, water and food -- are provided and medical care is given to those individuals who need it most.
One of the areas most acutely affected by the recent series of hurricanes and tropical storms is Gonaives, Haiti, where over 2,000 people are dead or missing as a result of flooding, according to Haitian officials.
Franco said establishing adequate secure distribution centers for relief supplies as one of his agency's biggest challenges in Gonaives. He said that USAID is working very hard to achieve this goal, and that the distribution process in Gonaives is improving, in part through cooperation with the nongovernmental organization CARE.
Franco's colleague at USAID, William Garvelink, added that USAID's ability to provide food in Gonaives continues to expand as the agency's two initial distribution sites have grown to seven or eight, thus allowing USAID to reach most affected areas with food assistance.
Garvelink, USAID's deputy assistant administrator for democracy, conflict and humanitarian assistance, said that USAID personnel have focused thus far on emergency relief. In addition to food assistance, shelter materials to cover damaged homes or supplies, and water and sanitation equipment are being provided. Health care is also being supplement by mobile medical teams. Garvelink said his office will begin to focus a bit more on moving rehabilitation efforts forward.
Franco characterized the overall U.S. response to the devastation in Haiti as "very, very rapid and very comprehensive."
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