The Hurricane Dean caused severe damage to the water supply in the northern parts of the country. - As a part of our cooperation with Belize Red Cross, we are sending two mobile water purifying units down today, says regional coordinator in the Norwegian Red Cross, Rilito Povea.

A Red Cross delegate, Marte Ness, is on her way to the disaster struck areas.

- In the areas I am going to, in the north, the water supply has suffered severely damage, witch is quite critical. Therefore we are sending two purifying units today, says Ness, who normally works as a WatSan expert in the Norwegian safety company, Veritas.

The equipment has capacity to purify 4000 litres of water per hour and the equipment is going to help 2000 families get access to clean water. - In addition to the water cleaning project, we are going to consider the needs for other types of humanitarian aid. Draining the floodwater and providing sanitary assistance to the affected may be relevant activities.

Long term cooperation During 2007 the Norwegian Red Cross established long term cooperation's with various countries in Central-America and in the Caribbean.

- In addition to Belize Red Cross, we are working closely together with the national Red Cross communities on Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, and in Guatemala. The goal is to increase the disaster preparedness as well as applying preventive initiatives concerning disasters in the region, says Poeva.

- Because of the hurricane Dean, our focus is mainly on Belize at this moment. Over a 2-3 months period, we will distribute clean water, food and other important relief items to the affected in Belize. Both the emergency response and the ongoing cooperation on disaster preparedness are being supported financially by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. We are also working with getting other collaborating partners involved in the project, says Poeva.