The United Nations is launching a $74 million action plan to assist 1 million Cubans affected by Hurricane Melissa’s devastating impact on the island’s eastern provinces.

When it was clear that Melissa was going to hit the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Las Tunas, Guantánamo and Holguín as a powerful Category 3 storm, the U.N. aid coordination office said it released $4 million in emergency funding to support the government’s disaster response. U.N. agencies “have unlocked” an additional $7 million, which leaves a funding gap of about $64 million, the aid coordination office said.

The global entity has not said how it seeks to secure the funding, but the ambitious plan reflects the agency’s concerns about the situation on the ground.

On Thursday, the U.N. coordinating office in Cuba leading the initiative said the funding would support only about half of the 2.2 million people “severely impacted” by the hurricane in those province who are facing “critical disruptions to housing, basic services, communications, livelihoods and threats to food security”. Half of those in such dire need are women, and 33.4% live in rural areas, the office said.

The hurricane battered eastern Cuba with strong winds and torrential rains, causing intense flooding that lasted several days after the storm left the island.

Eastern Cuba is one of the country’s poorest areas, and accounts and videos by residents show that those most affected live in precarious conditions and have few resources to recover. Many of the rural areas affected had been previously hit by Hurricane Oscar and an earthquake last year.

The U.N. coordinating office in Cuba also provided a preliminary assessment of the damage left by Melissa, citing official estimates.

More than 60,000 houses were destroyed by the hurricane or lost their roofs, a figure likely to increase as authorities gain access to communities left isolated by landslides, flooding and damage to roads and bridges.

“In several towns in Holguín and Granma provinces, hundreds of homes remain under water,” the report says. “The loss of all household belongings and essential goods, including food, cooking equipment, water storage containers, hygiene products, mattresses and appliances, has left tens of thousands of people in a situation of extreme vulnerability, many of them sheltering in schools and other makeshift facilities to ensure their safety during the emergency.”

Around 120,000 people remained in shelters or homes of relatives and friends.

The U.N. office in Cuba also said 1,552 schools and 461 hospitals, clinics and family doctors’ offices have been affected. Damage to the Juan Bruno Zayas Hospital in Santiago de Cuba has compromised services to pregnant women and dialysis patients.

“The interruption of electrical and telecommunications services exacerbates the situation, hindering the coordination of medical emergencies and the transfer of patients,” the report says.

There are “massive” losses of banana, corn, cassava, coffee, root vegetables and other crops, with more than 78,700 hectares affected totally or partially, according to the report.

“Extreme damage is reported to the infrastructure associated with the supply of basic services,” including water, electricity and phone and internet services, the U.N. office warned.

The disaster hit Cuba after years of severe economic crisis, and the government largely depends on humanitarian aid to respond to the emergency. Because of U.S. sanctions, the Cuban government cannot access loans or credits from international financial organizations, the U.N. office in Cuba said in its report, urging the international community to “support the country’s ongoing response and recovery efforts.”

The country’s leader, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and other top officials have been touring some of the affected areas, touting that, unlike in other years when disaster preparations were delayed or poorly planned, there have been no reports of deaths. But unlike the typical photoshoots of officials delivering aid to the population, the videos and photos prominently published in state media show Díaz-Canel and other officials arriving in those towns empty-handed.

Because of Cuba’s well known dire economic situation, many governments and organizations, including some based in Miami, have been mobilizing to send urgent humanitarian aid to the island.

The U.S. State Department said it has authorized $3 million in emergency funds to assist those affected. “This funding will be used to provide shelter, water, sanitation, hygiene, food assistance and emergency healthcare,” the agency said.

“In Cuba, distribution will be through the Catholic Church and Caritas directly to the affected people,“ the U.S. embassy in Havana said.

Details about how the aid will be implemented were still being ironed out this week, said Peter Routsis, director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami. Routsis told the Miami Herald the archdiocese has been supporting Cuba’s Catholic Church and elderly homes run by nuns throughout the island, and it has mobilized to provide disaster relief. Aid sent from Miami has been distributed in Guantánamo from a container that was already in the country, he said.

Routsis says the archdiocese has been sending aid year-round to Cuba with no restrictions from the Cuban government.

Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Investment acknowledged the U.S. government’s offer and a separate aid offer from the Archdiocese of Miami in a statement published on Facebook. The ministry said it has “years of positive experience in cooperation with the Catholic Church’s humanitarian work in Cuba. These humanitarian gestures are greatly appreciated.”

The ministry said the U.S. government aid was going to be channeled through Catholic Relief Services, the humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. It suggested some level of involvement of Cuban authorities in its delivery.

“As with aid from various parts of the world, including that from other religious organizations within the United States, our authorities are working to channel this support as quickly and efficiently as possible so that it reaches the populations and territories in need promptly,” the ministry said.

Other non-profit organizations with ties to South Florida are mobilizing to send aid to Cubans and others affected by the hurricane in the Caribbean, including the Order of Malta, Outreach Aid to the Americas and Cuba Foundation. Outreach Aid to the Americas said it is seeking donations to cover shipping expenses to send cargo containers with 45,000 packages of non-perishable food to support affected families in Cuba and Haiti.

Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, Japan and others have already sent or committed donations for the recovery efforts in Cuba.

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