Aid efforts struggle to bring relief to parts of hurricane-stricken Jamaica

KINGSTON Jamaica AP Rescuers and aid workers fanned out across Jamaica on Saturday to distribute food and water and reach communities still isolated four days after Hurricane Melissa hit the island Essential relief supplies are now rolling into hurricane-stricken St Elizabeth and Westmoreland most of of which had been cut off by fallen concrete posts and trees strewn across roads But in chosen parts people were forced to dip buckets into rivers collecting the muddy water for everyday use while others have been drinking coconut water and roasting breadfruit In Westmoreland mangled metal sheets splintered wooden frames of houses and fragments of furniture littered the coastline Social Guard Minister Pearnel Charles Jr was among several convoys of exigency responders en passage to deliver ready-to-eat meals water tarpaulins blankets medicine and other essentials The priority now is to get help to those who need it mentioned Charles Jr during a brief stop en course to Black River for the first time with long-awaited relief supplies Prime Minister Andrew Holness had declared Black River ground zero and mentioned the town will have to be rebuilt The Jamaica Defense Force JDF set up a satellite calamity relief site at the Luana area center near Black River where care packages are being dispatched to hurricane-stricken residents Multiple have been without vital supplies since Tuesday and promptly converged around a JDF truck as word spread that relief supplies were being distributed in the sweltering afternoon sun Everyone is homeless right now Rosemarie Gayle stated Thank you thank you I can t say thank you enough she disclosed as she accepted a package of rice beans sardines powdered milk cooking oil and other essentials Melissa has left devastation in its wake snapping power lines and toppling buildings disrupting food and water distribution and destroying crop fields Particular people have been walking for miles in search of basic goods and to check on loved ones as more than of the island remained without power Helicopters have been dropping food in cut-off communities People are in shock and they re waiting on relief announced World Vision s national director of domestic humanitarian and urgency affairs Mike Bassett who traveled to the town of Santa Cruz in St Elizabeth on Friday The biggest demands are clean water tarps for roof damage canned proteins hygiene and cleaning supplies he commented On Saturday the United Nations World Food Campaign received boxes of emergency food assistance shipped from Barbados to be distributed in shelters and in the most-affected communities in the St Elizabeth area They will help meet the demands of people for one week reported communications officer for WFP Alexis Masciarelli One of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall Melissa has been blamed for at least deaths in Jamaica and in nearby Haiti Strength Minister Christopher Tufton recognized that the death toll in Jamaica was supposedly higher as a large number of places are still hard to access but stated that it would be unwise to speculate Tufton also warned about the liability of increased mosquitoes waterborne diseases and food poisoning Please discard spoiled food he announced Melissa made landfall in southwest Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category hurricane with top winds of mph kph A U S regional catastrophe assistance response club was on the ground after being activated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this week the U S Embassy in Jamaica explained The United States stands with Jamaica as they respond to the impacts of the hurricane and remains prepared to swiftly deliver urgency relief items it mentioned Jamaica s Water and Climate Minister Matthew Samuda took to the social media platform X in a desperate bid to find tarpaulin after Melissa tore off scores of roofs on homes in western Jamaica X users chimed in to help indicating where they had seen supplies Falmouth a popular fishing spot on Jamaica s north coast had suffered essential damage including flooding and flattened buildings Holness explained on Saturday Our immediate priority is to restore electricity and telecommunications and to ensure that essential services particularly at the Falmouth Hospital are stabilized he mentioned on X adding that Jamaica would rebuild stronger and wiser Following the devastation the Caribbean Catastrophe Exposure Insurance Facility CCRIF stated that it would make a record payout to Jamaica of million The facility enables countries to pool their individual risks to provide affordable coverage against natural disasters The payout will be made within days the group declared on Friday Finance Minister Fayval Williams commented Thursday that the CCRIF insurance guidelines was just one part of the regime s financial plan to respond to natural disasters She pointed to a contingencies fund a national natural calamity reserve and a catastrophe bond Leadership leaders have explained damage assessment is still ongoing