The Association of Protected Areas Management Organizations, APAMO, – usually we only hear from them when there’s some topical environmental issue. But today APAMO made its presence felt for a wider cause, a humanitarian one. Today APAMO and the Oak Foundation made a $200,000 donation to the Red Cross relief effort in the north. The money is to be used to support 400 families in three communities that are close to the Corozal coastline. Edilberto Romero, the Executive Director of Programme for Belize and the Chair of APAMO explained.
Edilberto Romero, APAMO
“In this case some of the communities that were impacted are coastal communities, Sarteneja, Chunox, Copper Bank. They have a direct use in the natural resources of Belize and the marine resources. So it is only reasonable for the conservation organization to work at addressing their needs so that the impact, at the end of the day, on the marine resources will be less. In this case there is a short term need to provide hurricane relief so that, to give them sufficient time so that they can be sustainable on their own, they can sustain their families on their own.”
Kevin Castillo, Red Cross
“Please understand that this is not a blanket distribution of relief items. This is to the most vulnerable people. We’ve done our assessments, we’ve identified who those people are, and we’re providing relief supplies for 400 people in the Corozal District and a 100 people in the Orange Walk District.”
Jules Vasquez,
What would you say are the greatest and most persistent needs? Are they shelter needs or is it that people have lost their livelihoods?
Kevin Castillo,
“One of the amazing things in relation to the people of the north is that they are really resilient. I’ve looked at the improvement in the lives of people from day to day and I’ve seen in particular where they can provide the labor to put back their roofs together. I’ve seen that done very quickly. We do still have people who have need. We’ve been assisting with tarps that we’ve gotten from USAID. By and large at this time, the basic need is for food.”
Karen Diaz, President – Red Cross
“They are activities planned to help with seedlings so that the farmers, a lot of farmers in the Corozal District are not just big agricultural farmers, there is a lot of subsistence farming going on in backyards that help to supplement income with craboo and fruit and vegetables for their own use. So those sort of things will help people get back on their feet much more quickly.”
The Ministry of Agriculture is also doing its part to help farmers get back on their feet. Tomorrow, it launches a field assistance programme for small farmers whose crops were destroyed by Hurricane Dean. Farmers will receive fruit seedlings, vegetable seeds and fertilizers.
