Jamaica: Hurricane Melissa – Press Conference | United Nations

UN Resident Coordinator in Jamaica Dennis Zulu said that Hurricane Melissa has caused “unprecedented” devastation across its path in Jamaica, calling international community for support. The UN Resident Coordinator in Jamaica, the Bahamas, Bermuda, The Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, Dennis Zulu, spoke to reporters today via a video link today (29 Oct). He said, “There's been massive dislocation of services. We have people living in shelters across the country. And at the moment, what we are seeing in preliminary assessments is a country that's been devastated to levels never seen before.” Zulu said at the moment the United Nations is working in partnership with the national authorities and other partners, both bilateral and multilateral partners, to undertake the first assessment of the extent of the problem. This aims to see how the UN can respond expeditiously to alleviating those who are in need. At the moment, the Resident Coordinator said that the UN does not have the actual figures of how many people are impacted, “but we estimate to be a very large number,” Zulu added. The Resident Coordinator reiterated, the devastation is calling upon “all partners in goodwill wishes across the world to support Jamaica.” He added, “Jamaica has been making tremendous progress towards sorting out its economic situation. It was upward looking - sorted out its debt issues. But now with what has happened, it will take a lot of resources to be able to reconstruct and get it back on the upward trajectory.” “So the country of Jamaica and the government, the people of Jamaica need the support of all of us really to get them back to some state of normality,” Zulu stressed. Asked about challenges, the Resident Coordinator said, “we'll see now is how does Jamaica finance this unprecedented devastation to the country,” adding that this will definitely need additional financial resources. He also noted that Hurricane Melissa has negatively impacted tourism, adding that “we are obviously going to see reduced arrivals because the facilities, the resorts that were accommodating the tourists have been affected and they did affect Montego Bay, which is a principal destination here and the Ocho Rios” There will be a reduction of incomes coming in from tourism, Zulu added. Agriculture will be seriously affected as well, the Resident Coordinator said, “we're bound to see a spike in agriculture products. And that obviously is not good for the economy.” “It will have to be a lot of soul searching around how we can get this economy back on its feet and how we can finance the devastation that has been caused by Melissa going forward,” Zulu said. He also noted that some of the roads have been cut off, making it difficult to reach certain area. “This impacts us quite badly because we can't undertake the needed assessments that we need to do. And secondly, we can't get the resources that these people need in those areas that have that affected,” the Resident Coordinator explained. He also mentioned the fear of landslide as the soil is still wet. “So at the moment, what we're trying to do is trying to see how safe it is, to get to these areas. And we'll have to assess this using drones, for instance, but also some satellite imaging, which some of the UN agencies are providing, as well as other development partners, to be able to ascertain the level of damage.”


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