Havana/More than 38 tons of humanitarian cargo left this Saturday for Jamaica from the Regional Logistics Center for Humanitarian Assistance in Panama, while another twenty-four will be dispatched in the next few hours to Cuba, as part of the immediate response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean.
“We have worked in the last three days to send this cargo,” Stephany Murillo, regional manager in the Americas of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), told EFE.
Murillo added that a flight to Cuba is being coordinated to dispatch in the next few hours “twenty-four tons of humanitarian aid through Copa Airlines planes.”
An official statement said this Saturday that “the Regional Logistics Center for Humanitarian Assistance of the Ministry of Government (CLRAH), together with the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) and the IFRC, are working to dispatch humanitarian supplies” to Jamaica and Cuba.
Murillo believes that the catastrophic damage left by the cyclone will make this “one of the most important humanitarian operations” in the Americas region, where “we are probably going to move about a hundred tons of humanitarian aid in the coming months.”
In this sense, the official statement indicates that later, the shipment of other implements to the affected countries will be defined, as more details of the damage assessment are received.
The 69 kits contain critical medications, medical equipment, consumables, mosquito nets and oral rehydration salts.
On the other hand, several agencies of the United Nations system delivered to Cuba this Saturday a shipment of medical supplies to support more than 90,000 victims in the eastern territories impacted by Hurricane Melissa.
The 69 kits contain critical medications, medical equipment, expendable materials, mosquito nets and oral rehydration salts, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) accredited in Cuba stated on social networks.
Other agencies such as the Central Fund for Emergency Action, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, among others, are part of those involved in the aid, the United Nations system in Cuba indicated on social networks. These agencies have coordinated aid with the Cuban authorities, in accordance with the message.
The shipment is added to that delivered by other United Nations agencies focused on health (PAHO), development (UNDP) and food (WFP) that participate in the Anticipatory Action plan for emergencies in Cuba, prepared before Melissa’s arrival. The World Food Program (WFP) informed EFE that it estimates that currently some 700,000 people in Cuba, more than 7% of the population, need its help following the passage of the meteor.
Melissa made landfall in Cuba at dawn last Wednesday in the southeast of the country and left seven hours later in the northeast, accompanied by winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour and rains that left up to 400 millimeters (or liters per square meter) in some points.
The hurricane has caused massive power outages, destruction of homes and infrastructure, road closures, widespread communications problems, severe flooding, and extensive agricultural damage. At the moment there is no preliminary damage assessment by the Cuban Government and no personal injuries have been reported.
