In light of the particularly active and intense current hurricane season in the Atlantic, the European Union has released more than €5 million in humanitarian aid to support affected populations in the Caribbean and Central America. This corresponds to over €1.5 million to Central America and another €3.5 million to countries in the Caribbean.
A significant share of the allocation for the Caribbean, up to €2.7 million, will support humanitarian partners in Cuba, as they are responding to the impact of both the hurricanes and earthquakes that have struck in the past month.
As regards Central America, at least €500,000 has been earmarked for Honduras, to respond to recent floods following the pass of Tropical Storm Sara. In addition, €130,000 will support the Red Cross’ response to recent floods in Panama, linked to hurricane Rafael.
Funding for these 2 regions will be used to provide relief in terms of food, water and sanitation, health, and emergency cash assistance, to name a few. It will also be used for prepositioning and reinforcing essential stocks in the regions.
This funding brings the total EU humanitarian aid for these regions to close to €39 million this year. This includes previous allocations of €600,000 in response to hurricane Oscar in Cuba, €650,000 to respond to the impact of hurricane Beryl in several Caribbean islands, and €200,000 in response to hurricane John in Mexico.
Background
The 2024 hurricane season, which started unprecedented early, has been very intense, recording up to 18 named storms. 9 of these storms became hurricanes and 5 of them reached category 3 or higher.
In the case of Cuba, in a less than 3-week period between late October and November, the country was struck by hurricanes Oscar and Rafael, in addition to 2 earthquakes of 5.9 and 6.8 magnitude, respectively.
