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“We need to act fast because delay means blocked roads, vital
services at a standstill, lost income and increased suffering,”
said Kishan Khoday, the agency's representative in Jamaica.
Local government officials said Thursday that the storm ripped
the roofs off 120,000 structures when it struck last week,
affecting some 90,000 families in the island’s western region.
More than 180 shelters remain open, with 2,487 people living in
them more than a week after the Category 5 storm made landfall,
according to Alvin Gayle, director general of Jamaica’s
emergency management office.
Crews are still clearing roads in an attempt to reach 27
communities that remain cut off by landslides and flooding.
“I hear the cry of every baby that is now hungry in a community
that is not yet reached. It goes to bed with me,” said Prime
Minister Andrew Holness.
Roughly half the island remains without power, although
officials have set up generators and Wi-Fi hubs in certain
communities.
“We are making progress every day in restoring power,
telecommunications, water, clearing roads and delivering aid,”
Gayle said. “We understand these have been some challenging
times.”
Melissa was one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record,
with Holness noting that the storm caused at least $6 billion in
damage, according to preliminary estimates.
Melissa killed at least 32 people in Jamaica and another 43 in
nearby Haiti, where 13 others remain missing.
It also damaged structures in eastern Cuba, where authorities
evacuated thousands before the storm made landfall last week.
“This Category five hurricane has left a trail of extensive
damage, impacting nearly six million people,” said Jorge Moreira
da Silva, the U.N.’s under-secretary-general whose Office for
Project Services is helping Jamaica with relief and recovery
operations. “Specifically in Jamaica, the hurricane has
destroyed homes and vital infrastructure amounting to nearly one
third of the nation’s GDP from last year.”
Holness said that Melissa affected some 600,000 people in
Jamaica, and that relief operations will be ongoing for several
months.
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