Hi everyone. While it is rare that we post on a weekend, we want to highlight that for the people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, life has been challenging recently.
Yesterday, what has been feared became a reality as the La Soufriere volcano began to slowly release ash, smoke and lava and eventually erupted, after months of seismic activity. This comes after a year of dealing with Covid-19 and the economic fallout from lockdowns and loss of employment.
Thankfully, the death toll from the virus has been relatively low in the beautiful Caribbean country and the expectation is that people in close proximity to the volcano will evacuate safely and, where needed, persons will evacuate to neighbouring Caribbean territories.
As a Caribbean nation with the unsavoury history of African slavery affecting its people for generations, pressing forward despite the lingering effects of the devastation from past tropical storms and hurricanes, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines now have to deal with the adversity of both Covid-19 and a major climate event in a short space of time.
(Please see the attachment for a Situation Overview from the UN)
Through CARICOM there will be material support for the country from its regional neighbors and from countries outside the region. However, the devastation to mental health needs to be addressed with equal priority as physical health and rebuilding of homes and communities.
We continue to send prayers to the people of that lovely nation.
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