Hurricane Gustav makes its way through the Caribbean

While the Haitian Red Cross is busy providing relief to those that were affected by Hurricane Gustav, the Jamaican and Cayman Islands Red Cross is busy preparing to deal with Gustav’s onslaught.    

On Thursday, Gustav churned towards Jamaica and the Cayman Islands with winds near hurricane force. Gustav moved away from the island of Hispaniola, where reports say it claimed the lives of 23 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  Forecasters predicted it would hug Jamaica’s southern shore before making a near direct hit on Grand Cayman.

On Friday, Gustav was lashing Jamaica with tropical storm-force winds, and forecasters said parts of the island could get up to 25 inches of rain which could trigger landslides and cause serious crop damage. Fishermen have been told to stay ashore to prevent injury and even death.

All 13 branches of the Jamaica Red Cross have been activated and have set up their local response mechanisms and are working closely with the parish disaster committees. Jamaica Red Cross volunteers, including members of the community disaster response teams (CDRTs) as well as shelter managers are on standby.

There are also specially trained volunteers including members of the Red Cross psychosocial support programme, water and sanitation, information technology and telecommunication specialists, logisticians and relief co-ordinators which have been commissioned.

Ms Yvonne Clarke, director general, Jamaica Red Cross said non-food items have been pre-positioned in various parishes and a virtual warehouse arrangement has been activated with a major food company which will see food items being sent to the most affected areas.

Donors such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have pledged to assist if the need arises while the Kiwanis Club of the First City donated cleaning agents such as bleach to the Red Cross.

“Jamaica Red Cross continues to be on alert and is working with its local partners such as the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) to reduce the number of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters,” said Yvonne.   

To date the JRC has received reports from the branches of flooding, roof and structural damage and blocked roads. There are 108 shelter opened at this time with approximately 2000 persons seeking shelter in the Jamaica Red Cross-managed emergency shelters island-wide.

Jondo Obi, branch director, Cayman Islands Red Cross said they were expecting Gustav to make land fall on Friday night. However, she noted that the island experienced heavy bursts of rain.

The airport has been closed and all flights scheduled for Saturday have been cancelled. She explained that national and Red Cross shelters were opened on Friday morning and there are currently two or three First Aiders at 10 national shelters.

“Our community CDRTs are very much on alert and ready. On Cayman Brac our volunteers are just waiting and preparing to respond.”

The Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has been activated and Jondo is positioned there to monitor the situation and co-ordinate with other agencies. The Pan American Disaster Response Unit (PADRU) has preposition in a Disaster Management delegate in Grand Cayman to assist with relief operations.

Gustav hit Haiti as a hurricane on Tuesday, causing floods and landslides that killed 15 people. In the neighbouring Dominican Republic, a landslide buried eight people, including a mother and six of her children.

The Haitian Red Cross is currently supporting 5,000 families with non food items while the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Federation) has approved a Disaster Relief and Emergency Fund (DREF) of 25,000 Swiss Francs to support the relief efforts in Haiti.