A report from the Caribbean Disaster Response Agency (CDERA) quotes the Red Cross as saying that between 5,000 and 8,000 are in emergency shelters, some of which are makeshift.

Authorities in the country are gradually getting the security situation under control. On Saturday, the flow of emergency supplies into Grenada resumed, after a temporary suspension linked to security concerns.

Hurricane Ivan has left more than half of Grenadians homeless

Looting was widespread in the immediate aftermath of Ivan. The Barbados Nation newspaper also claimed on Saturday that criminals were attacking vessels, laden with emergency supplies, in Grenadian waters.

The Caribbean Disaster Relief Unit is now operational at both the air and sea ports and responsible for managing all incoming relief supplies.

CDERA said the Point Salines Airport is now providing limited services to handle incoming aircraft.

Potable water remains a priority need. Authorities said the surface water distribution system was damaged by the passage of Ivan.

The prime ministers of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica were due in St. George's at the weekend for an on-the-spot assessment for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Ivan is the most dangerous Hurricane to hit the Caribbean in decades

The Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, the Director General of the OECS, the president of the Caribbean Development Bank, along with an official of the United Nations Development Programme visited the country on Friday.

After the meeting, officials reported that internal and external communications was improving. But the short-term focus remains emergency housing and shelter for the displaced.

The Red Cross has launched an appeal to raise US$1.3 million even as it continued to send in emergency supplies. The Caribbean Development Bank is providing $500,000 in immediate assistance.

The governments of Barbados and Dominica are among the latest to pledge cash donations. In Barbados, a radio appeal has also raised pledges in excess of US$500,000.

undefined  In our time of distress the regional and international community has been completely mobilised to help Grenada Grenada's prime minister, Keith Mitchell

Grenada's prime minister Keith Mitchell said the United States Secretary of State Colin Powell had told him that the US was preparing a package of assistance to the island on the orders of President George Bush.

"In our time of distress the regional and international community has been completely mobilised to help Grenada," Dr Mitchell told the nation in an address in which he called for national unity. "The government is working to bring relief to all our citizens, some in greater needs than others."