THE HAGUE - The Red Cross Netherlands believes that the structural need that exists in Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten for humanitarian support deserves attention at kingdom level. There are groups of vulnerable residents for whom the existing social safety nets are not sufficient.
Carla Jonker, head of International Emergency Relief of the Red Cross, presented this to the Second Chamber’s Committee for Kingdom Relations in the Dutch Parliament today during a presentation about the assistance provided by the aid organization after St. Maarten was hit by hurricane Irma and the corona crisis in all three Caribbean countries.
One of the problems that the aid workers have encountered is the lack of data on vulnerable groups of residents. Jonker announced that the Red Cross will conduct a needs survey in the coming months to map out these groups so that they can be better reached in the event of subsequent calamities.
In the first year of the corona pandemic, the Red Cross, together with the local branches and other partners, provided more than 75,000 people (a quarter of the total population) with food aid. For 75% this went through the granting of vouchers with which people could do their shopping at supermarkets. 23% received food packages and the remaining 2% used the meal service.
About Sint Maarten, Jonker said that the country is now better prepared for the next hurricane than for Irma. The disaster relief structure has been provided. At the same time, she pointed out that the gap between rich and poor has only widened, and that part of the population does not have the money to build emergency supplies at the start of the hurricane season, for example.