UNICEF aid for 2,000 families
IN response to emergency appeals following the devastation by Hurricane Dean last Sunday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) office in Jamaica has mobilised US$100,000 from the agency’s national committee in France, and was expecting another £50,000 from the counterpart committee in the United Kingdom.
The money will be used to assist government and non-governmental organisations in providing relief supplies for the approximately 2,000 families and their children affected by the hurricane.
Tarpaulins, hygiene kits, water tanks and chlorine are among the items to be provided. At the same time, funds will go towards supplying recreation kits and school-in-a-box kits for the early childhood sector.
UNICEF said, too, that it has already pre-positioned four field emergency health kits to serve 4,000 children over a three-month period and 2,000 10-litre collapsible water containers.
UNICEF representative in Jamaica Bertrand Bainvel, in announcing the receipt of the grants, said “such an assistance will be key to ensuring that children are given first consideration in the relief effort post-Dean and during the entire hurricane season”.
