Barbados sends aid to Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa

Prime Minister Mia Mottley has announced that Barbados is sending humanitarian assistance to Jamaica following the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa earlier this week.

Speaking at the World Food Hub at Grantley Adams International Airport shortly after returning from Paris on Thursday, Mottley said Barbados had already begun coordinating relief shipments. 

Mottley confirmed that the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) has already sent “two containers of tarpaulins, cots, and emergency generators” to Jamaica, while the World Food Programme is shipping 5 000 food kits. “We in the government will also supplement that by another 5 000 kits,” she said, explaining that each kit provides food for a family of three for one week.

The Prime Minister said she had spoken to Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holness, who “reinforced the need for urgent support with respect to either food, monetary donations, or emergency logistical supplies.”

Mottley urged Barbadians to assist in the national relief effort. “We are going to make sure that the DEM announces tomorrow (Friday) how you as ordinary Bajans can continue to supplement what the government is doing,” she said. “Whatever we can do by supplementing from here in the short term, we should do.”

She added that arrangements were being finalised for a local bank account and drop-off points where citizens could contribute money or approved items to the relief effort.