Disaster relief organisations in the region can now respond faster, having learnt some critical lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Executive director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Elizabeth Riley, said they recognised the need to “have stocks and essential supplies much closer to the places where the hazards actually happen”.
She was speaking late yesterday evening from the Caribbean Regional Logistics Hub where tonnes of supplies were being mobilised for shipment to Jamaica which was hit by Category 5 Hurricane Melissa last Tuesday.
The hub was opened in May at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Christ Church.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, who returned from Paris yesterday afternoon where talks were held on the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement on the climate crisis, agreed that the hub was critical to relief efforts.
“This has made a major difference to us being able to get supplies to Caribbean countries in a shorter period of time than if we were simply relying on outside of the region or from Panama, both in terms of maritime and air,” she said.
“The Department of Emergency Management in Barbados has already provided two containers of tarpaulins, cots and emergency generators,” she said, in addition to the 5 000 food kits by the World Food Programme.
She said Government would supplement another 5 000 kits.
“Those food hampers, food boxes, food kits, whatever you want to call them, effectively provide dry foods and tin foods for a week for a family of three, so that we really do believe that this can help.
“I just spoke to Prime Minister [Andrew] Holness, who reinforced the need for urgent support with respect to either food, monetary donations, or
emergency logistical supplies, as we’re doing with the tarpaulins and the cots and the generators.”
The Prime Minister said Barbadians would know today how they could contribute to the relief efforts.
Riley stated that “proactively, with respect to Hurricane Melissa, we were able to receive the anticipatory needs lists from the countries [that] really assisted as well, so that we were clear on the specific items that countries would require. We are, of course, very focused on supporting the people of Jamaica who have been affected. We noted yesterday that the numbers of displaced persons had reached over 7 000 and we anticipate that this is going to increase,” she said.
CDEMA and other agencies partnered with the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide assistance.
Head of the supply chain for the WFP in Barbados, Andrew Jackson, said the first vessel bound for Jamaica left Wednesday night. It was provided by the European Union and the French and “was fully loaded with emergency relief items such as tarpaulins, hygiene kits, household kits, as well as kitchen sets and education kits”.
He said in collaboration with UNICEF, International Organisation of Migration, the Pan-American Health Organisation, the Government of Barbados and the Department of Emergency Management, they have been working around the clock for more than a week in preparation.
“The hub has been an amazing asset to have. We didn’t have this in operation fully last year and we’re really able to see the benefits of having these relief items in the Caribbean, being able to spring into action whenever we need to. Tomorrow [today], we have another vessel that will load,” he said. (SAT)
