Shelterbox directing efforts to Caribbean following Hurricane Beryl’s wave of devastation

SANTA BARBARA, Calif,— An estimated 200,000 people have been impacted by Hurricane Beryl.

“Your life stops when you've been displaced by a disaster. And so for these families, they have a long haul of the rebuild process, which could take years in some of these islands,” said Shelterbox USA President Kerri Murray.

In places like the Grenada islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique the devastation is unprecedented— with most buildings including homes and schools, damaged or destroyed altogether.

“ People in these islands, they depend on the tourism that we provide. And so they're completely devastated. They don't have the tourism coming in and they've lost all of their things. So they need help. They need shelter, they need cooking supplies,” said Rotary Club of Montecito President Kim Stone.

That’s where Shelterbox comes in.

Response team workers are sending in life-saving supplies— including emergency relief tents, cooking sets, solar lights, and mosquito nets— in what Shelterbox USA President Kerri Murray calls a “complex emergency.”

“You have incredibly remote locations. You have lack of power. You have lack of infrastructure, food and water. And people who now, for the last two weeks, many of which have been living outdoors without these essential supplies. So for us, it's a race against time to really get the aid items to the people who need it most as quickly as we can,” said Murray.

The temporary home is the first start in the recovery process, but things like mosquito nets are just as important when stagnant water on the islands creates a high risk of mosquito-carrying diseases like dengue fever.

Shelterbox says donations to their non-profit will help spread their reach to more people.