After the Christmas holiday, 7News told you about the catastrophic floods which affected the Eastern Caribbean island of St Lucia, St. Vincent and Dominica. As we've told you at least a dozen lives have been lost, more are injured and many continue to be displaced from their homes.
Well, the Belize Red Cross, which is a part of the regional Red Cross organization, has started a fund raising event to assist the victims.
Today, the public relations officer explained the situation on the ground in those countries, and why you should help:
Rodell Beltran-Perrera, PR officer - Belize Red Cross
"It been referred to as a holiday storm; it's something unexpected that happened in the southern part of the Caribbean region and it affected St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines as well as the island of Dominica. This sudden storm has affected communities in those 3 islands, it caused a lot of damage to crops, highway and of course destroyed even we lost some lives on those islands."
"We feel that as part of Belize Red Cross and members of the Latin American Caribbean International Federation zone of the Red Cross we need to respond. We today launched the appeal along with the UWI Open Campus here in Belize asking for monetary donations to assist those persons on those 3 islands that are affected."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, tell us what are you guys attempting to do and how do you convince the Belizean public that look these brothers and sisters of ours are in the Caribbean, a distance away from us but you should treat them as though they are right down the street."
Rodell Beltran-Perrera, PR officer - Belize Red Cross
"You are right, they are our brothers and sisters, and they are part of the Caribbean region. They are the first to respond whenever we have needed help and we did too and the Belize Red Cross has a history of that."
The effort is being organized in collaboration with the University of the West Indies.
Anyone wishing to make a contribution can do so to the Belize Red Cross bank accounts at any of the 5 local banks countrywide.
Donations will be forwarded to the International Federation of Red Cross which is spearheading efforts in support to families and farmers in the three islands on behalf of the Movement.
Beltran also told us that the pleas for assistance for the flood victims in Belize is still ongoing, and they are hoping that the public will assist with these efforts.
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