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A member of the national committee tasked with coordinating the post-Hurricane Melissa response is appealing for more patience, from desperate residents in some of the hardest-hit areas, as their grumbling about the distribution of relief supplies gets louder. Danville Walker, a member of the Relief and Recovery Committee, acknowledged that nearly a week after the Category-5 hurricane made landfall in Jamaica, there are communities that remain “completely cut off”, but said inaccessible roads and loss of connectivity are among the challenges faced by aid agencies. “You have to have some patience,” Walker responded yesterday when asked what was his message to weary residents trying to get food and other basic supplies. He also appealed to Jamaicans in other parishes, who have family members in the disaster-hit areas, to “try everything you can to get to them and assist them in anyway you can”. Gary Williams, a resident of Whitehouse, Westmoreland, complained during an interview with the global media outlet, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), that he has heard promises of incoming aid deliveries, but “they no turn up”. Packing winds of up to 185 miles per hour, Melissa made landfall in Westmoreland about midday last Tuesday. Williams lost his house during the passage of the hurricane and has “nowhere to live”, and suggested he may even sleep in the same place where the interview was conducted, on the porch of a building that lost its entire roof, the BBC reported. Another survivor, who did not want to be named, painted an even more dire picture. “Words can’t explain the situation that we’re in. It’s horrible. I don’t even know what to say. So many hopeless, helpless and lifeless people here right now,” the woman said. Amid the urgent need for basic supplies, looters have targeted several businesses in and around Black River that were ravaged by the hurricane. Three people allegedly caught looting were arrested by the Black River police on Thursday, Commanding Officer for the St Elizabeth Police Superintendent Coleridge Minto disclosed. Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton acknowledged that the security of relief supplies and aid workers is likely to become an issue when “people are not afforded the conveniences sometimes of having access to food and other basic items”. However, he said it’s something the Government will have to manage “very carefully”. “I have been in touch with the minister of national security. Those discussions have taken place, and I know that there is a strong presence by the security forces on the ground in the affected areas, to maintain law and order. “When these incidents occur, we just have to respond, and respond decisively, because we have to protect law and order and the security of those we are trying to help.” Noting that the number one need right now in hurricane-ravaged communities is food, Walker said “a number of people” – organisations and family members – are trying to get food packages into these areas as quickly as possible. “But the Government or your family members will not be able to get anything to you if the roads remain blocked,” he told The Gleaner during an interview on Sunday. “One of the more critical things we have to do right now, so as to get relief supplies into these areas, is to make sure the roads are open and clear,” he added. Another critical need, he said, is to get telephone and Internet connectivity up and running, “so that we can hear from people…where they are and what they need”. Robert Morgan, minister with responsibility for works, sought to assure residents in hurricane-ravaged areas that the Government is fully mobilised and is utilising all available resources locally, and those on offer from other countries, to enable them to get relief supplies. Melissa caused infrastructure damage in sections of St Andrew and St Catherine, but was more intense in the hardest-hit parishes of Manchester, St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, St James, Trelawny and St Ann, he said on Friday, as he got a first-hand look at the destruction in the town of Black River. However, he lauded the work of the National Works Agency (NWA), the police, the army, large and small contractors, as well as the men equipped with saws and cutlasses across several communities who answered the call to help clear roadways for emergency responders. “Two days after the hurricane, when I look at the work that has been done by the NWA, the Jamaica Defence Force and by the citizens, it is amazing to see,” he said on Thursday. “I don’t believe that anyone could have expected, reasonably, that we would have been able to create access so quickly after such a devastating event.” Some residents in sections of St Elizabeth have had their water supply restored after the Luana Well facility was put back into service through the use of a generator, the National Water Commission disclosed on Sunday. The communities include sections of Luana, Black River, Point, Middle Quarters, Bailey Ground, New Holland, Cragie, Spring Park, Pond Pen and Baptist. livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com
