According to the UN aid coordination office (OCHA).
“Up to 360,000 people may need food assistance,” stressed the World Food Program (PMA). Access to some western parishes remains difficult due to debris and fuel shortages, OCHA said.
WFP has been “working around the clock”, developing joint plans and strategies with the Government, said Brian Bogart, country director of the WFP Caribbean Cluster Office, briefing journalists in New York via video link.
jamaican resilience
“The Jamaican people are resilient,” he said, “but they need urgent support to maintain that resilience.
Bogart reiterated that the urgent needs remain food, water, shelter and medicine for the most affected communities.
In the past two days, a French and a Dutch naval ship loaded with relief goods have made landfall in the port of Kingston.
In the coming days, WFP plans to help up to 200,000 people across the country with food assistance and cash transfers, which is critical as the country moves from an immediate humanitarian response to a longer-term recovery strategy.
Cuba and Haiti
The distribution of food in Cuba has already reached 180,000 in the protection centers of the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo, reported the national director of the WFP there, Etienne Labande.
Highlighting the deep knowledge of the local context by UN food agencies and their ability to coordinate with authorities and communities, M. Labande emphasized that having WFP on the ground was “critical” to ensure a rapid and effective response.
Meanwhile, in Haiti, at least 30 people died during the extreme weather generated by Melissa, according to authorities.
A child receives support from a UNICEF worker in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica.
“It is estimated that 1.25 million people have been affected by the hurricane”stated the Cuba country director.
To make matters worse, ongoing relief efforts and aid delivery are further complicated by the continuing humanitarian crisis and the security vacuum created by armed groups that control the vast majority of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
“Recovery is a marathon, not a sprint”M. Labande stressed.
Despite severe funding shortfalls, access challenges and logistical limitations, the UN and its partners continue to assess the damage and redouble efforts to reach people in need.
$74 million is urgently needed to provide life-saving assistance to up to 1.1 million people across the Caribbean following Melissa, and coordinate emergency logistics and telecommunications.
