The MP overseeing Canada’s foreign aid announced $7 million in humanitarian relief for Caribbean states hit by Hurricane Melissa on Thursday.
Randeep Sarai, secretary of state for international development, says $5 million will go to life-saving help through emergency response agencies and health providers.
The other $2 million will go to the United Nations World Food Program to support its efforts to distribute food and other supplies to Jamaica.
Sarai says Canada is prepared to deploy relief supplies from its emergency stockpile through the Red Cross, if countries request that help.
He says Ottawa is looking at immediate needs but will also help the Caribbean in the next phase of its recovery from the Category 5 storm, which has killed dozens of people in Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti.
Ottawa has funded programs meant to help countries like Jamaica cope with natural disasters through emergency planning and logistics, and Canada is also trying to reform global institutions so that Caribbean countries can pay for climate-resilient infrastructure.
Randeep Sarai, parliamentary secretary for international development, standing alongside Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand, announced $7 million in relief funds for islands hit by Hurricane Melissa. ‘We’re standing with the Caribbean today,’ he said.
