Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Hurricane Beryl, now a storm moving into the Canadian Atlantic, left a path of destruction across the Caribbean, Mexico, and flooding in Texas. Christian relief agencies were quick to move in to the most heavily hit nations.
Samaritan’s Purse quickly mobilized its Disaster Assistance Response Team, dispatching a DC-8 from Greensboro, N.C., loaded with vital supplies, including tarps, solar lights, water units and a mobile medical unit. The effort is part of its mission to provide immediate relief and support to the hardest-hit communities.
“We started building out pallets of cargo before the hurricane even made landfall and are now on the way with life-saving aid,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, He urged believers to join him “in praying for the families who are in the path of this storm and for our Samaritan’s Purse staff who will be serving them.”
Guy Vital-Herne, communications manager for World Vision, expressed concern for regions such as Haiti, predicting catastrophic impacts if the storm were to hit, given the country’s vulnerability to flooding and infrastructure challenges.
Christian Aid’s Chief of U.K. Advocacy, Sophie Powell, drew attention to the wider implications of such storms, stressing the need to allocate more funds to rebuild in the areas devastated by natural disasters.
“These are the people that desperately need loss and damage finance to help them rebuild their lives and livelihoods,” she said. “You cannot simply adapt to a category 5 hurricane destroying your home or killing your family. These are losses that need to be compensated, and it’s why getting more finance into the Loss and Damage Fund needs to be a major priority.”
The hurricane has inflicted severe damage across the Windward Islands, escalating into a category 5 storm as it hit Grenada, causing widespread destruction and power outages. It has claimed at least 10 lives across the region, with the death toll expected to rise as recovery efforts continued.
Beryl claimed at least seven lives in Houston.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
