Discovery Bay Bauxite vows no ease up on assistance to Melissa victims

Discovery Bay Bauxite is committing to continuing its collaborative efforts to assist victims of Hurricane Melissa in St Ann.

Since the passage of the hurricane on October 28, the bauxite company has joined forces with several other entities to assist affected families in the company’s mining areas in St Ann. These entities include its parent company Atlantic Alumina (Atalco), Jamaica Bauxite Mining, United Way of Jamaica, employees of the company, bauxite community council members, and the Jamaican Government.

The company’s actions comes after Hurricane Melissa left a trail of devastation across a wide area of western St Ann, in addition to several areas of Trelawny.

Discovery Bay Bauxite’s move to take care of communities in its operating areas has been welcomed by residents in these areas, including Old Folly, a community sitting just next to the company’s shipping operations.

One resident, George Brown, who is a community council representative, said the 185-miles-per-hour wind generated by the hurricane severely affected hundreds of homes and businesses, disrupted livelihoods, and destroyed several farms.

Brown said residents are extremely grateful to Discovery Bay Bauxite for responding to a life-threatening need with provision of, and access to, thousands of gallons of water from the company’s four wells.

He disclosed that in a demonstration of partnership, care and concern, 20 of his community council members teamed up with managers and staff from the bauxite company last Wednesday to pack 500 care bags and 450 cases of bottled water for distribution to the elderly and shut-ins in various communities within the areas targeted.

The company’s operations manager, Craig Thompson, said while keeping an eye on the water requirement levels so as to maintain full operation at the facility, the company opened its water resources to truckers, enabling them to distribute up to 100,000 gallons of water each day to schools, residents, police stations, health centres, and government agencies.

“Our water has reached out to [as far as] hurricane-hit Westmoreland, Hanover, St Elizabeth and St James, where an estimated 10,000 gallons per day go to the World Central Kitchen that provides thousands of hot meals per day to those hard-hit areas,” Thompson revealed.

Discovery Bay Bauxite’s parent company, Atalco, assisted with shipments of relief items, zinc sheets, and bottled water from its Gramercy alumina plant, which imports bauxite from Jamaica, and from Louisianan families.

The items have been shared with employees who were affected by the hurricane and with residents of its operating area communities in the mines and plant areas. Atalco also reached out to western Jamaica with shipments of relief items in the hardest-hit areas of the country.

Meanwhile, Discovery Bay Bauxite’s Human Resource Manager Nordia Tracey thanked the United Way of Jamaica for assisting with the clearance of relief items from the bauxite ships that dock at the port in Discovery Bay.

“Employees have long been voluntary contributors to United Way and we have formed a strong partnership with the charitable institution,” Tracey said.

Members of Parliament representing the hard-hit areas of St Ann North Western, Krystal Lee, and St Ann South Western, Zavia Mayne, also thanked Discovery Bay Bauxite for providing zinc sheets across the constituencies, and for its sponsorship of a gospel concert and family day event promoted in Discovery Bay earlier in December.

carl.gilchrist@gleanerjm.com