US sending dozens of relief workers to help with fallout from Hurricane Melissa

WASHINGTON (AP):The United States is deploying several dozen disaster relief workers, including urban search and rescue teams, to Caribbean island nations as they deal with devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa.

Disaster Assistance Response Team personnel from Washington and regional hubs in Miami and Costa Rica as well as the urban search and rescue crews from Los Angeles County, California, and Fairfax County, Virginia, are en route to the region, three State Department officials said Wednesday.

They are expected to arrive in the next 24 to 48 hours and join up with local staff in Jamaica, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic, where they will be based to offer help in neighbouring Haiti, according to the officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because the teams were not yet on the ground.

Hurricane Melissa has left dozens of people dead and widespread destruction across Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica. The monster storm made landfall Tuesday in Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record before weakening and moving on to Cuba.

The State Department officials said they expected the US response to the hurricane to be “robust,” “efficient” and “effective.” They dismissed concerns that the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, which had previously overseen relief operations, would hinder the work.

The US government shutdown also was not a factor, the officials said, and the people needed for the operation had been exempted from the furloughs that have affected all federal agencies.

The government shutdown also was not a factor, the officials said, and the people needed for the operation had been exempted from the furloughs that have affected all federal agencies.

It was not immediately clear if the DART team members would be paid immediately for their work, but the search and rescue teams are employed by their localties and their services are covered by long-term existing contracts.

The officials said anticipated needs include supplies like hygiene kits, temporary housing, sanitation equipment and food, which will be drawn from warehouses in Miami and from local stockpiles maintained by aid groups.

The officials and the US military’s Tampa-based Southern Command said the Pentagon could play a role in transporting personnel and supplies to remote areas in the affected countries but that a decision on the scale of such involvement had not yet been made.

The Trump administration has built up a military presence in the Caribbean as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking, which includes deadly strikes on boats that it accuses of being operated by cartels. The Pentagon says it is sending an aircraft carrier to join the eight warships, series of aircraft and thousands of troops already in the region.

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