Hurricane Melissa: 19 dead in Jamaica, 30 in Haiti, as humanitarian efforts increase
According to Jamaican Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon, 19 people have so far died as a result of Hurricane Melissa, as search and rescue efforts continue, and with authorities trying to get aid to hard-hit areas. The hurricane, one of the most powerful to strike the Caribbean, has also killed at least 30 people in Haiti, according to official reports.
Dixon stated that “there are entire communities that seem to be marooned and areas that seem to be flattened” with “devastating” scenes in western regions, while electricity has gone out in most of the island.
As people try to salvage damaged homes and belongings from flood water and mud, thousands are growing increasingly desperate for aid, as parts of the country have been without water for several days and food is growing increasingly scarce.
Aid and relief materials have begun to arrive more rapidly as the main airport in Kingston could be said to be back to normal, while regional and smaller airports with closer proximity to areas with greater need of humanitarian assistance are only still partly operational.
Aid agencies and the military are bringing in the urgently needed supplies from Kingston by land, though many roads remain unpassable, as army vehicles and relief convoys struggle to get past fallen trees and poles, leaving many who live in western areas very much without the aid they need.
According to BBC, residents of towns in western Jamaica said on Thursday that “words can’t explain how devastating” the storm has been for the country. “No-one is able to get through to their loved ones,” Trevor ‘Zyanigh’ a resident said.
In Haiti, many of the victims in the storm died when a river overflowed in Petit-Goave. While a full assessment is ongoing, there are still areas that authorities have not been able to access.
The interim UN coordinator for the country Gregoire Goodstein said that about 15,000 people were staying in more than 120 shelters in Haiti.
According to the UN resident coordinator for Cuba Francisco Pichon, more than 3 million people were “exposed to life-threatening conditions” during the hurricane in Cuba, with 735,000 people “safely evacuated”. Cuban authorities said no fatalities have been reported so far, but almost 240 communities have been cut off due to flooding and landslides.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in south-western Jamaica on Tuesday before impacting other countries in the Caribbean, with forecasters reporting that the category five storm is raging with wind speeds of 185 mph (295 km/h).
Governments, humanitarian organizations and individuals around the world are pledging support for the nations hardest hit by the storm.
The World Food Program said it is collaborating with partners to coordinate logistics, cash and emergency supplies across Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The US State Department said it is deploying a disaster response team to the region to help with search and rescue operations, and assisting in efforts to provide food, water, medical supplies, hygiene kits and temporary shelters.
The UK Government on Friday said it is mobilizing £5m ($6m) to send humanitarian supplies, including shelter kits and solar powered lanterns, to help people without power and those whose homes have been damaged, in addition to the £2.5m ($3.36m) already announced in emergency humanitarian funding to support recovery in the Caribbean.
BBC and Horse’s Mouth News
