The Gov­ern­ment has launched a na­tion­wide hu­man­i­tar­i­an re­lief ef­fort for earth­quake-rav­aged Venezuela, mo­bil­is­ing state agen­cies, the pri­vate sec­tor and mu­nic­i­pal cor­po­ra­tions in what it de­scribes as a co­or­di­nat­ed na­tion­al re­sponse to the un­fold­ing hu­man­i­tar­i­an cri­sis.

In a me­dia re­lease is­sued to­day, the Min­istry of For­eign and CARI­COM Af­fairs said it launched the ini­tia­tive on the in­struc­tions of Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar fol­low­ing a high-lev­el stake­hold­er meet­ing con­vened joint­ly with the Min­istry of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment.

The meet­ing brought to­geth­er Min­is­ter of For­eign and CARI­COM Af­fairs Sean Sobers, Min­is­ter of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Khadi­jah Ameen, se­nior rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the Min­istries of De­fence, Health and Home­land Se­cu­ri­ty, through the Of­fice of Dis­as­ter Pre­pared­ness and Man­age­ment, ODPM, as well as ex­ec­u­tives from the Trinidad and To­ba­go Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce, the Trinidad and To­ba­go Man­u­fac­tur­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion, the Amer­i­can Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce, the En­er­gy Cham­ber of Trinidad and To­ba­go and Se­wa In­ter­na­tion­al TT.