Pastor Desmond Robinson, head of the Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA).DISASTER RELIEF charities say all is in place for the upcoming hurricane season that starts June 1.
Ruth Chilsholm, communications director at Jamaica Red Cross, says branches across the island are busy reviewing stock for the upcoming season. She says volunteers, national intervention teams and shelter managers' first aid and emergency management techniques are also being refreshed. Training began December.
"We also have human resources in terms of our psychological support unit. We are strengthening that body so that they will be able to be deployed again, depending on the impact," she said
The Jamaica Red Cross has some 10,000 volunteers across the island. These include 3,000 adult volunteers; the remaining 7,000 are youths.
"We are very very fortunate to have service clubs, such as Rotary, Key club and Lions to come in and assist us. So in terms of human resources, Jamaicans always come out and open up their hearts, so we have no huge problems in that area," Chisholm reports.
PREPARED FOR CHALLENGE
Executive director of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Pastor Desmond Robinson, says the agency's emergency response team is also prepared to meet the challenges of the upcoming hurricane season. They are currently shipping several million dollars of basic relief items such as mattresses, tarpaulins and lumber from Miami, Florida.
Trained emergency personnel are also already on alert to deal with emergency situations across the island.
"We have also designed what is called ADRAER (ADRA emergency response) which is designed to be activated by just a simple cellphone call; meaning that if there is a disaster in Kingston, we contact the head of that emergency response group and say activate now," he explains.
The agency has about 2,000 volunteers from Seventh-day Adventist Churches across the island. ADRA has also enlisted some contractors to help in immediate removal of fallen trees and debris, and they are already approaching donor agencies for construction items that can be used to build temporary shelter for possible victims.
MAJOR PROBLEM
"I think our major problem last year was to ensure equipment in every area. Now we are enlisting contractors and builders as part of our network ... So we are in gear and very alert about the hurricane season," he says.
Another charity, Food For the Poor is also getting things in gear. A spokesman says the warehouses are stocked with food and medical supplies.
The charity is only waiting on some extra building material for housing construction that has not yet arrived. The agency has already started distributing basic relief items to some institutions such as nursing homes, clinics and infirmaries to help them stock up early for pending hurricanes.
"We didn't want to wait until a disaster and they needed mattresses ... I don't want to keep it all stockpiled here and then I can't reach to Westmoreland if, heaven forbid, something happened there."
"I would say we are prepared as one could get at a stage like this," said the Food For the Poor representative.
G.M.
