CARANA Feature
USAID Assisting Hurricane Ravaged Grenada to Chart
Course Forward Hurricane-ravaged Grenada is getting assistance with evaluation of
the economic damage caused by Hurricane Ivan and in developing guidelines
for a rehabilitation and reconstruction program.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID),
through its Caribbean Trade and Competitiveness Development Program
(C-TRADECOM) is assisting the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States
(OECS) Secretariat with a mission to undertake a preliminary assessment
of the economic impact of the hurricane.
Under the program, a multi-disciplinary team of experts is now in
Grenada doing a sector-by-sector assessment of the damage to the
Grenadian economy. The team will develop an action plan for reconstruction
and rehabilitation programming, with emphasis on rapid response and
recommendations for follow-up assistance.
The assessment will include estimates of direct and indirect damage
to Grenada's economy as a whole and the magnitude of that damage
to the country's Gross Domestic Product and other macro-economic
variables. The overall assessment of the damage will also include
a detailed macro-economic assessment of the situation prior to the
disaster, the expected situation without the disaster and the estimated
performance of the economy, taking into account the effects of the
hurricane.
Hurricane Ivan, the most powerful storm to hit the Caribbean in
over 10 years, lashed Grenada as a dangerous category three hurricane
on September 7 leaving a trail of destruction in its path with over
30 persons dead, an estimated 90 per cent of the houses damaged,
communications knocked out and damage to the key agricultural sector.
[Posted September 22, 2004]
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