More than 40 members of the Guyana Defence Force, mostly from the Engineering Corps, are currently in Jamaica assisting the island with its recovery and restoration efforts following the devastation left by Hurricane Melissa.

Guyana has also dispatched various supplies, including building material, food, water tanks and mattresses.

Today, the third trance of relief supplies from Guyana was handed over to the Government of Jamaica.

Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), in Jamaica, Commander Alvin Gayle, told News Source that while much work is still to be done, initial work to restore electricity, water and telephone services have been moving ahead with support of the GDF support team on the ground.

“What remains to be done now as we get into early recovery phase is to restart that reconstruction process and that is where we are and that is where a significant portion help from the government of Guyana and its people is coming into train. The Guyanese Defence Force is in country, they have already done their assessments and they have started already that reconstruction process in the most hit community in Western Jamaica,” Commander Gayle stated.

The Jamaican official hailed the efforts of the Government of Guyana and members of the Guyana Defence Force who have been on the ground assisting with the recovery efforts.

“This will be one for the long-haul, where we at now is in the immediate recovery phase as we build back for future and resilience, we will see this process going for a matter of years. The immediate thing now is for some semblance of normalcy to be brought to the Jamaican people and where matters of dignity have to be treated with, have those treated with,” he stated.

Captain Coast Guard of the GDF, Vernon Burnett, who is on the ground in Jamaica, told News Source that the Guyana Defence Force contingent has been busy at work since their arrival in Jamaica.

“This mission underscores Guyana’s commitment to regional cooperation and mutual aid within the Caribbean Community. The mission, transition from immediate relief to substantial targeted reconstruction projects based on a direct Presidential commitment. In the initial phase, we handed over several relief items a few weeks ago, and after our President Mohamed Irfaan Ali visited with that CARICOM high powered team, he made a commitment to the rebuilding of 200 roofs of family homes.

As a result of that, a small technical team did an assessment of the 200 houses in order to come up with the material needed to come up with the repair for those houses”, Captain Coast Guard Burnett said.

He said available troops were deployed to Jamaica to assist with the rebuilding efforts.

Hurricane Melissa was one of the worst storms to ever hit Jamaica in recent times, with recovery and restoration efforts moving ahead with regional and international support.

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