UNDP Statement - Empowering communities, accelerating recovery in the wake of Hurricane Beryl

From UNDP Multi Country Office in Jamaica

July 31, 2024

a group of people standing on top of a wooden boat — Michael Barnes, Daniella Blake and their two children, Nastassia and St Michael of Treasure Beach on Jamaica's south coast lost their home when hurricane Beryl made landfall.

Ricardo Makyn for UNDP

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Multi-Country Office in Jamaica deployed an impact assessment site visit on 10 July 2024 to assess serious damage from Hurricane Beryl in the most impacted communities in the southwest coastal areas of Jamaica. Together with Government, the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator (RC), the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other UN agency experts, and through meetings with affected individuals and community members, local NGOs and local government representatives around the Treasure Beach and Black River area of St. Elizabeth Parish, a number of urgent needs were identified, an important basis for ideation of the joint UN plan of support for disaster response and early recovery.

a group of people walking down a dirt road

a couple of people that are standing in the grass

Building on our nearly 50-year presence in Jamaica and engagement in numerous crisis response and recovery processes in past years, UNDP stands in solidarity with the people of Jamaica affected by this tragedy and reaffirms our commitment to combat the expansion of climate induced disasters, including deployment of expertise to relevant authorities and community organization for relief, recovery and resilience. In partnership with the Government of Jamaica and as part of the broader United Nations system response, UNDP is supporting partners as they respond to and begin to recover from Hurricane Beryl. This includes UNDP offers on issues like livelihood recovery, community infrastructure, local government capacity support, and access to energy.

Beyond the priority efforts around this unprecedented event, UNDP also stands ready to support preparedness and risk reduction measures in advance of future events in what is a rapidly developing hurricane season. To this end, in addition to Jamaica, the UNDP Multi-Country Office is also in contact with partners in The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and Cayman Islands regards foresight for the remainder of the 2024 hurricane season. This complements UNDPs role supporting the UN system effort in Jamaica and the broader region to advance climate action and community adaptation in an era of increasingly frequent and intense impacts.