.JPG)
Patterson THE JAMAICA Government says it may have to seek international aid to pool with local resources to repair damage caused by flood rains from tropical storms, Isidore and Lili.
Speaking with journalists at Jamaica House following a tour of sections of hard-hit St. Thomas and St. Andrew yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson assured the public various agencies had the necessary resources to address the problems and that the Government would first use local resources to handle restoration, but explained it might need international help to carry out more rehabilitation.
"There may be the need for seeking external assistance or asking for some adjustment to the financial assistance that was already made available or committed as a result of the June rains, but we are going to be using our own resources immediately to respond to the priorities," Mr. Patterson said.
Following yesterday's meeting of the National Disaster Management Committee at Jamaica House to report on the loss and damage caused by the storms, the Prime Minister also directed ministries and agencies handling relief efforts to immediately start taking care of priority areas.
Officials stated that final estimates from flood rains had not yet been tallied but it is clear that millions of dollars will be needed to do repairs to damaged infrastructure.
The storms, which hit the island about a week apart and cost three lives, also left about 1,500 persons in shelters in badly-hit parishes. The worst hit parishes included St. Andrew, St. Catherine, Westmoreland (with 912 people in shelters), St. Elizabeth, Clarendon and St. Thomas, which has 330 people in shelters.
The Prime Minister has also directed the National Works Agency (NWA), with assistance from the Engineering section of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), to build a bailey bridge to link sections of St. Thomas, which were cut off by the flooding and landslides, with sections of Kingston. The deadline given for completion of the bridge is next Tuesday.
About 100 feet of road had been washed away at the Yallahs Fording in St. Thomas, reported officials from various utility companies, disaster, flood relief and transport agencies, among them the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
They also reported that 147 roads were affected by flood rains with about 100 still blocked or cut off. The NWA said it was working to restore those roads.
In the meantime, officials will be again be launching a public education campaign advising people to properly treat water and take steps relating to vector control.
For their part, Labour Minister Dean Peart is expected to travel to St. Elizabeth today while Water and Housing Minister Donald Buchanan will head to Clarendon and St. Catherine, where the Bog Walk Gorge has been closed, to see the damage caused by Tropical Storm Lili.
