THE GOVERNMENT says it will be providing emergency assistance to thousands of families which have been affected by the flood rains which lashed Haiti and the Dominican Republic last weekend.
Prime Minister P. J. Patterson said the level of assistance would include the provision of drinking water, medical personnel, relief supplies and technical assistance teams, as needed. The relief is being spearheaded by the Office of the Prime Minister, with the assistance of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, National Security, and Health, and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM). The Port Authority will ship the medical supplies and drinking water.
Mr. Patterson, in separate letters to Hipolito Mejia Dominguez, President of the Dominican Republic, and Haitian President Alexandre Boniface, expressed the sorrow of the Government and people of Jamaica at the loss of lives and property in both countries.
JAMAICA READY
"The reported extent of the damage and dislocation impels us as a neighbouring country to offer some immediate assistance to the people of Haiti in a tangible form," he said in his letter to President Boniface, while expressing "sincere hope that normalcy would return to the Dominican Republic in the shortest possible time."
He added that Jamaica "stood ready to dispatch technical assistance teams, once specific needs were identified."
Yesterday, former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife, Mildred, also expressed sorrow at the more than 2,000 lives reported lost resulting from the flood rains.
"We stand in solidarity with the residents of Mapou, Font Verette, Jimani and with all Haitians and Dominicans directly affected," Mr. Aristide said during a press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston.
APPEAL
He added: "We express our profound condolences to all those who lost a mother, father, husband, wife, child, relative or friend in this tragedy." Mr. Aristide also thanked the Jamaican government as well as other countries and entities that responded to the tragedy with humanitarian aid.
The Jamaican Government has made an appeal for the private sector and civil society organisations to contribute to the relief effort through the Jamaica Red Cross.
Rains on the weekend lashed the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, sweeping away entire neighbourhoods. With a death toll in the thousands, hundreds of people are still missing after swollen rivers and mudslides devastated homes.
