EU provides funding through Red Cross to assist families worst hit by floods

A team of experts is currently in Guyana to assess the impact of the flooding. The Civil Defence Commission has estimated that 36,000 households have been affected, with farmers and miners being the hardest hit.

EU provides funding through Red Cross to assist families worst hit by floods

The European Union has announced the allocation of €150,000 in humanitarian funding to assist Guyana in its flood relief efforts.

Guyana has been rocked by some of the worst floods in decades since the rainy season started.  Some areas have seen up to 10 feet of flood waters.

A team of experts is currently in Guyana to assess the impact of the flooding. The Civil Defence Commission has estimated that 36,000 households have been affected, with farmers and miners being the hardest hit.

The funding that is being made available to Guyana will be channeled through the Red Cross.

The current EU humanitarian funding will be channeled towards the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in support of their Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) and will be implemented by the Guyana Red Cross society which is present in all affected districts. The intervention will last for three months and aims at providing immediate support to 500 vulnerable families currently living in temporary shelters in the most severely affected regions of Upper Takutu, Upper Essequibo, Upper Demerara and Berbice,” a release from the EU local office said Friday.

Ambassador of the European Union to Guyana, Fernando Ponz Cantó earlier in the month met Director General of Guyana’s Civil Defence Commission Kester Craig to facilitate the activation of the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism.

“The EU funding will contribute to enable the Guyana Red Cross to swiftly provide families with kitchen sets, solar lamps, durable mosquito nets to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as Dengue, Chikungunya or Zika. Families will also receive hygiene kits, jerrycans, household cleaning kits and water treatment tablets to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases which are likely to increase due to the persistence of stagnating water,’ the EU office said.

With the EU funding, the Guyana Red Cross will identify the most vulnerable families and present them with Cash and Vouchers.

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