As Hurricane Melissa intensifies into a Category 4 storm—expected to reach Category 5 strength by Monday evening—the Caribbean faces a humanitarian emergency.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is actively coordinating with national governments and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency to deliver emergency logistics, telecommunications, and food and cash assistance across the region, including in Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.
On a regional level, the WFP Caribbean Regional Logistics Hub in Barbados has more than 500 pallets of relief supplies and logistics assets from partner organizations prepositioned for air and sea deployment to affected countries. The most urgent items can be airlifted, while additional supplies are ready for maritime transport.
Additionally, the WFP-managed United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in Panama stands ready to deploy its Field Emergency Team and dispatch over 2,000 pallets of life-saving supplies—covering shelter, health, WASH, and logistics—from WFP’s corporate stocks and 16 humanitarian partners.
WFP teams are on the ground providing early action to prepare communities before disaster strikes and are ready to scale up our response during and after the storm thanks to the support of our generous partners.
