Jamaica: IFRC launches emergency appeal in response to Hurricane Melissa

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00:00Thus we concentrate on Hurricane Melissa and its after effects.

00:04The rumble of large machinery, the wind of chainsaws, the chopping of machetes

00:08echoing through communities across the northern Caribbean this Thursday

00:12as they dug themselves out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa

00:15and assessed the damage left by the catastrophic storm.

00:19In Jamaica, the recovery has begun among shell-shocked communities.

00:23Some are still underwater, all accounting the cost of the biggest storm

00:26to hit the island since records began.

00:28Cuba too has been badly affected.

00:31The city of Santiago de Cuba was directly in the path of the hurricane

00:35which by the time it reached Cuba had reduced from Category 5 to Category 3

00:40but nonetheless still caused widespread damage as you can see

00:45as it cut its way across the island moving on towards the Bahamas.

00:53Humanitarian aid for Jamaica has been pledged

00:55with the UK government promising around 3 million euros to help.

00:59Yinka Oetari here at France 24 has a close-up look at the situation.

01:03Her report starts in Jamaica's Black River District

01:05where most roofs of homes have been ripped off

01:08by winds of up to 300 kilometres per hour.

01:11This is the impact of the strongest storm to hit the planet this year.

01:18Homes without roofs, others barely left standing, many destroyed altogether.

01:24On the ground, the scale of the devastation is clear

01:27as residents begin the painful task of picking up the pieces.

01:30The hurricane forced Sam to contemplate making unthinkable choices.

01:45If we had stayed, we would have died

01:50because I have one, two, three and a baby and a little girl

01:58and thinking about it, had to choose one, it would have been nice.

02:05Authorities say 90% of roofs in the coastal community of Black River

02:11have been destroyed.

02:13Hardly any left standing in the city of Montego Bay too.

02:17A massive clean-up is now underway, largely led by residents themselves.

02:2277-year-old Alfred Hines wades barefoot through thick mud and debris,

02:28grateful just to be alive.

02:30Alfred is one of an estimated 400,000 people affected by Hurricane Melissa.

02:54More than 25,000 remain crowded into shelters across western Jamaica,

02:58with 72% of the island still without power

03:01and only a third of mobile phone networks back online.

03:06Let's get more and bring in Thomas O'Dell-Alonga

03:08from the International Federation of the Red Cross.

03:11Thomas, thank you for joining us.

03:12The images in the report, heartbreaking.

03:16The testimony from people affected by this,

03:17it really does make you feel incredibly sad for the people in Jamaica

03:21and the people affected across the Caribbean.

03:23And I'm wondering, your organisation at times like this does such great work.

03:29What can you do?

03:30What's underway?

03:31Give us a sense of what hope people have there.

03:34Yeah, absolutely.

03:35Thanks for having me tonight.

03:37But the situation, as you correctly pointed out,

03:39also in the footage that you've shown,

03:41it's really catastrophic.

03:43We are talking about very severe damages to infrastructure,

03:47even hospitals, talking about schools, bridges, roads.

03:50So, of course, the situation is very complicated.

03:53Now, if you're talking about hope,

03:55I would say that the first thing to highlight

03:57is that the anticipatory action,

03:59the early warning system saved lives.

04:02And we saw it in these days

04:03because the fact that the Red Cross,

04:05of course, together with other organisations,

04:07local authorities were able to evacuate people

04:09and put them far from danger was very important.

04:14And if you look at the death toll,

04:15I think this is good news.

04:17Now, reality is that time for recovery

04:21is already started.

04:23Of course, some areas are still hard to reach,

04:26but humanitarian aid is coming.

04:28When the airport will be reopened again,

04:32we already have a couple of cargos

04:34ready to come from Panama directly to Jamaica.

04:38And again, speaking about hope,

04:40anticipatory action, again, save lives.

04:42We were able to preposition stocks

04:44in the weeks and months before

04:46to train more than 400 volunteers

04:48that were able to serve their communities

04:51before, during and now in emergency mode.

04:56It's such a difficult thing

04:58to get your head around

04:59to really understand from afar,

05:01to be in the position

05:03that those people are in right now.

05:05Many of them have lost their homes.

05:08They're happy and rejoicing

05:10that they've still got their families.

05:12And it is remarkable

05:12that the death toll has been so low.

05:14But these people have so little.

05:16How does that rebuilding process begin?

05:18And once again, I'll say,

05:19you're here and you're talking to us,

05:21so this is in no way blaming you

05:22because you're doing great work

05:23to try to help them.

05:25Who else needs to get involved?

05:26Clearly, governments need to,

05:27clearly, international organisations need to

05:29to actually get the supplies there

05:31and the money there

05:32that they need to rebuild.

05:33Well, absolutely.

05:36The idea is that a few minutes

05:39or a few hours or a few days,

05:40in this case of a storm,

05:42will completely destroy life of people

05:44because if it's true

05:45that many people were safe

05:48with shelters and so on,

05:49it's also true that

05:50to rebuild their own life,

05:53their own livelihoods,

05:54their own normalcy

05:54will take months, if not years.

05:56And we have also to remember

05:57that Jamaica,

05:58as well as other countries in the area,

06:00were eaten less than two years ago

06:02by hurricane burial.

06:03So some of those communities

06:05were on their knees.

06:06They were trying to stand up

06:07and again, another hurricane arrived.

06:09So here, it's really critical

06:11to have international solidarity.

06:14This is also why our organisation

06:16launched actually yesterday

06:18a 19 million Swiss franc emergency appeal

06:20to assist 180,000 people

06:22only in Jamaica.

06:24Other appeals will come for Cuba

06:26and the other affected countries.

06:28Reality here is that

06:29it's a team effort.

06:31It's not one organisation,

06:33one institution who can do the work

06:35and it will take time.

06:37We're looking at,

06:38I would say, at a marathon

06:39and not as a sprint

06:40because needs are already huge damages

06:43we can see from this footage.

06:45But the reality is

06:45that the clearer picture

06:47will come in the next hours and days

06:49and sadly, it could be way worse.

06:52Indeed.

06:52I mean, the death toll,

06:54as high as 52,

06:55some reports are saying.

06:57Clearly, at this stage,

06:58new things will come to light

07:00and let's hope that there are

07:01no more deaths to be recorded.

07:03But certainly, the damage, Thomas,

07:05as you've just been speaking about,

07:07it is massive.

07:09And trying to reconstruct

07:10amid all of that,

07:12with all that around,

07:13is incredibly difficult.

07:14How do you begin

07:15helping people in that sense?

07:17Where do you start?

07:20Well, you start from

07:21life-saving items.

07:23I mean, I know that this kind of

07:25country in theory,

07:26when you see a lot of water around,

07:28but water and clean water

07:29is very, very important

07:31and very difficult

07:32to find in this kind of situation.

07:34So bringing water,

07:35bringing food,

07:36bringing hygiene kits,

07:37bringing, I mean,

07:40tarpaulins, blankets,

07:42all these kind of,

07:42let's say,

07:43life-saving items

07:45that you need

07:46in the first emergency phase.

07:48Then, in parallel,

07:49you need to work immediately.

07:51And actually,

07:51we started before the storm arrived,

07:54the hurricane arrived

07:55on mental items,

07:56psychological support.

07:57We had volunteers and staff

07:58who were trained

07:58in what we call

07:59the psychological first aid

08:01because people,

08:03again, on their knees,

08:04they have, of course,

08:05huge fear,

08:06huge concerns,

08:07and working on mental health

08:08since the beginning

08:09is really important.

08:11And then,

08:11the recovery phase

08:12needs to start

08:13immediately after,

08:14so I would say

08:15in the next coming weeks.

08:17And the recovery phase,

08:18as we saw in Bahamas,

08:19in Bangladesh,

08:20in other countries

08:21from the world,

08:21needs, must,

08:22have a part of,

08:25again,

08:26of creating

08:27a safer,

08:28safe space,

08:29working on

08:30typical reduction,

08:31replenishing

08:32all the preposition stocks

08:34because we know,

08:35sadly,

08:35by experience

08:36that this kind of

08:37arrogance will come back,

08:39hopefully not

08:39at this level of severity,

08:41and communities

08:42need to be prepared.

08:43Speed of the essence,

08:44but, of course,

08:45it needs to be directed

08:45in the right ways,

08:46and that's what you're about,

08:47Thomas.

08:48So thank you very much,

08:48indeed,

08:49for giving us that sense

08:50of the hope

08:51that the people of Jamaica

08:52and the rest of the Caribbean

08:53can have in the wake

08:54of what happened

08:55with Hurricane Melissa.

08:56Thomas O'Dellalonga

08:57is from the International

08:58Federation of the Red Cross.

09:00Thank you, sir,

09:01as always,

09:01for joining us here

09:02in France 24.

09:03We appreciate your time,

09:04and good luck to you

09:05and all your team

09:06working so hard

09:06to help people there

09:07stricken by Hurricane Melissa

09:09in the Caribbean.

09:10Thomas O'Dellalonga,

09:10thanks for being with us.

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