ON July 5, Trinidadian Navin Kalpoo stood at a shelter in northern Carriacou, overwhelmed by the number of desperate people calling for even the smallest of items to recover from one of the worst hurricanes in the island’s history.

“One child held on to me and said: ‘Uncle, can I get a blanket?’ because some people, children too, are sleeping on mattresses, pieces of cardboard and some are just sleeping on a sheet on the ground. That got to me.”

He and a team of six others from Sewa International had arrived in Carriacou from Trinidad just hours before on a mission to bring relief items to the hurricane-torn country.

In an interview with Newsday on July 7, hours after he returned, Kalpoo said while he was able to provide a blanket for the child and a few others – taking their own blankets and sheets from off their boat to give to the displaced on Carriacou – many more needed food, shelter and means to communicate with the outside world.

[caption id="attachment_1094983" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Volunteers unload relief items from the Captain Harriss in Carriacou on July 4. The relief items were taken to the island from TT by Sewa International volunteers after Hurricane Beryl decimated the island on July 1. - Photo courtesy Navin Kalpoo[/caption]

“People were crying out for help.”

“Even if it is pharmaceuticals, or clothes, or even a simple tarpaulin, they were all in need.”

He said aside from food items, the people of Carriacou need blankets, bed sheets, power sources and tarpaulins as they try to recover from the destruction.

Mass destruction in Carriacou

Kalpoo said on June 30, he was preparing items for Hurricane Beryl, which, at the time, was heading toward TT, but it passed TT with minimal damage.

But the next day, when he heard about the hurricane’s impact on Carriacou, he used those relief items to send to the affected islands.

He said when they got to the island, they were taken aback by the level of destruction they saw, with the majority of homes either damaged or destroyed, all communication down and people desperate for help.

The good Samaritans gathered food items and outfitted a long liner – a large fishing boat called Captain Harriss – to carry the goods across to the affected islands.

They went with food items, sheets of tarpaulin, power supply sources and other survival items. He said the rough seas made the trip longer than expected – a seven-hour trip was extended to 13 hours – and they had to stay overnight because of a curfew imposed on the island, but when they got there, the destruction was worse than expected.

“It’s ten times worse than what is being seen on social media. Several houses in a row are totally gone; the displaced are moving in with the people who have roofs.”

He said shelters are overcrowded and because of the hurricane, accommodations are poor.

“There is no electricity, no water, the toilets do not work the way they are supposed to, the place is hot and it’s crowded.

“Some people are broken down mentally because they don’t know where