22161: Esser: Jamaica sending medicine, drinking water to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Jamaica Observer
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com

May 31, 2004

Jamaica sending medicine, drinking water to Haiti


JAMAICA will be providing drinking water along with medical and other
relief supplies to flood-ravaged Haiti, Prime Minister P J Patterson
said over the weekend.

In addition, Jamaica will be sending medical and technical personnel
to assist with the flood relief efforts.

Jamaica flood relief effort is being spearheaded by the Office of the
Prime Minister, with the assistance of the foreign, security and
health ministries, and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and
Emergency Management.
The Port Authority will ship the medical supplies and drinking water.

Meanwhile, the prime minister, in separate letters to Hipolito Mejia
Dominguez, president of the Dominican Republic, and Haitian President
Alexandre Boniface, expressed the sorrow of the government and people
of Jamaica at the loss of lives and property in both countries,
according to JIS News.

"The reported extent of the damage and dislocation impels us as a
neighbouring country to offer some immediate assistance to the people
of Haiti in a tangible form," he said in his letter to President
Boniface, while expressing "sincere hope that normalcy would be
returned to the Dominican Republic in the shortest possible time" and
that Jamaica "stood ready to dispatch technical assistance teams,
once specific needs were identified".

The deputy foreign minister, Senator Delano Franklyn, told the Senate
Friday that the prime minister had instructed the permanent secretary
in his office, Charmaine Constantine, to organise a meeting with all
the relevant relief agencies with a view to discussing the issue and
making recommendations as to the level of assistance Jamaica could
provide.

A meeting was subsequently held with representatives of the Office of
the Prime Minister; Ministry of Water and Housing; Jamaica Defence
Force; Ministry of Commerce, Science and Technolog; Office of
Disaster Preparedness; Ministry of Land and Environment; Urban
Development Corporation; National Housing Development Corporation,
National Water Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
JIS said a taskforce, chaired by Constantine has been constituted to
ensure the most effective and thorough response.

At the same time, the government has also made an appeal for the
private sector and civil society organisations to contribute to the
relief effort. All donations should be channeled through the Jamaica
Red Cross.
Rains last week lashed the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares
with the Dominican Republic, sweeping away entire neighbourhoods. The
death toll has been recorded at more than 2,000 with hundreds still
missing after swollen rivers and mudslides devastated homes.
.