With winds in excess of 250 km/hr, Hurricane Ivan battered the Cayman Islands leaving a trail of destruction in its path. No one on the islands was spared. The centre of the category five hurricane passed within 30 miles (48 km) of Grand Cayman , the largest of the islands, which are home to some 43,000 people.

Hurricane Ivan was one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record and killed more than 60 people on its journey across the Caribbean . It caused mass destruction on the tiny island of Grenada before making its way to Jamaica and then the Cayman Islands .

Waves as high as 6 m (20 ft) in places crashed into the sea wall at the port in Georgetown , during last Sunday's onslaught, while floodwaters swept away trucks, cars and boats. A quarter of Grand Cayman was submerged by flood waters. The two other islands - Cayman Brac and Little Cayman suffered less damage. One fatality was reported.

Mrs Jondo Malafa Obi, director general of the Cayman Islands Red Cross (CIRC) was one of the many people that were severely affected by the vicious hurricane. Her home was completely destroyed leaving her to seek shelter for her family at her neighbour's home. She has since sent her two young children to stay with her sister in Miami .

Other CIRC staff members were also affected. Training manager, Peter Hughes' house was destroyed and looted. However, his sailboat is intact and he is now living on it. But despite their personal losses, the CIRC team is working hard to help those in need on the island.

The Red Cross shelter was open throughout the ordeal providing assistance to those that opted to wait out the hurricane there. The volunteers at the Red Cross managed the other shelters on the island which were open and occupied.

Mrs Obi said 15 to 20 percent of the housing stock in the Cayman Islands has been deemed unrecoverable. Many of these are buildings in which sheet rock ceilings collapsed into homes, in addition to them being inundated with several feet of water. The worst damage was experienced in the eastern part of Grand Cayman in an area called Breakers.

There was also no water or electricity for sometime after the hurricane and some landline and mobile phones are now operational.

Some looting was reported. The offices of the police emergency response (911) were flooded during the hurricane, so that police responses to calls were compromised.

International aid started to arrive on the island on September 17 th , the first flight being from the Pan American Disaster Response Unit (PADRU). Relief supplies on this flight included blankets (medium thermal), hygiene kits, plastic sheeting, kitchen, a generator and jerry cans.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Federation) also launched a revised appeal increased to six million Swiss francs to assist those affected by hurricane Ivan. These funds will be essential to support the current and ongoing relief operations being carried out by the Red Cross Societies in Grenada, Jamaica, Cuba and the Cayman Islands branch of the British Red Cross. The appeal funds will be used to provide shelter materials, food, blankets, kitchen sets, hygiene articles and jerry cans to support 85,000 people over the next six months.

"As we anticipated, since the day after the hurricane struck Grenada and we launched our preliminary appeal (1.75 million CHF - US$1.39 million), the needs have significantly increased as Ivan progressed through the Caribbean ", said Santiago Gil, head of the Federation's Americas department in Geneva .

Given the huge devastation caused by Hurricane Ivan there is a need for tents, plastic sheeting and tarpaulins to ensure temporary shelter and for zinc sheeting as well as construction tools to replace roofs which were ripped away.

Two British naval vessels, HMS Richmond and RFA Wave Ruler, are also currently providing supplies to the island and assisting relief efforts.