United Nations has released $1million in emergency funds, following the “terrible devastation” of parts of the northern Bahamas in the Caribbean caused by Hurricane Dorian, UN reported.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said he “remains deeply concerned” for those thousands impacted by the giant storm.

The UNs relief chief, Mark Lowcock, traveled to the island nation on Wednesday, to meet Government leaders and help expedite a life-saving aid operation.

“Following further aerial surveys tomorrow and more data collection “hopefully, very soon after that, we will be able to get teams on the ground” he said, adding that he had told the Bahamian Prime Minister that he would release $1million “immediately, from the Central Emergency Response Fund, to deal with exactly the set of priorities that he has identified.” 

The UN chief said in a statement that he was especially concerned “for the tens of thousands of people affected in Grand Bahamas and Abaco.”

Guterres said the UN was supporting the ongoing Government-led rescue and relief efforts and was contributing assessment teams to join others deploying to the affected areas.

“People who have lost everything urgently need shelter, safe drinking water, food and medicine” he added, calling on donors to provide emergency funding for the humanitarian response and recovery efforts, “as soon as the requirements are known.”

Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, down the line from the Bahamas late on Wednesday, Lowcock said that the damage was on an “enormous scale” causing “vast devastation” and leaving around 70,000 in need of life-saving aid on the two islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco.

He said access was “still very limited” to the islands for the rescue and humanitarian relief effort, and noted the scale of the disaster was unprecedented, for what is, essentially, a prosperous country.