Barbados, Sep 08, 2004: 3:00 pm (CDERA) – The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) has started operations involving numerous agencies to provide relief assistance to hurricane-hit Grenada. The British Naval vessel HMS Richmond has arrived in St George’s harbour and has done a fly over to provide an initial assessment. They confirm previous reports of widespread damage. In addition, the police headquarters has been badly damaged. The Regional Security System (RSS) has departed Barbados to assist with internal security. Deputy Coordinator of CDERA Audrey Mullings is leading an initial assessment team to Grenada at 2:30PM today September 8, 2004. The team comprises a representative of the United States Agency for International Development/ Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance, Pan American Health Organisation, an engineer, and the Caribbean Media Corporation which will distribute pool reports to Caribbean media. Contact with the Emergency Operations Centre has been re-established through Grenada amateur radio operators. The HMS Richmond is also facilitating communication between CDERA and the Government of Grenada. HMS Richmond medical personnel are providing an initial assessment of needs at the Grenada General Hospital ahead of the arrival of the Pan American Health Organisation representative. The road to the hospital has been cleared. The harbour is open though a 300-foot vessel is lodged there. The airport runway has been cleared but the control tower is not yet functional. The road from the airport has been cleared. The Caribbean Disaster Relief Unit which is also operated by the RSS is deploying a restoration team to the Spice Isle as well as CARILEC which is flying in power utility restoration crews. Trinidad and Tobago, the CDERA sub-regional focal point for Grenada is mobilizing a vessel to deploy relief supplies tomorrow. In the last 24 hours CDERA has been flooded with hundreds of calls from the Grenada Diaspora around the world and in an effort to assist with health and welfare information, CDERA is in communication with the International Federation of the Red Cross to organize a mechanism, possibly through the Internet to post information that would answer many of the enquires being received. CDERA will attempt to standardize information releases twice per day – at 10 am and 6 pm.