RESIDENTS of parishes that took most of the battering when Hurricane Dean struck Jamaica last week Sunday say they are yet to receive much needed relief supplies – one week after the category four system wreaked havoc on the island when it passed south of Jamaica.

Residents of St Thomas, Portland and Manchester, some of whose houses were completely destroyed by the powerful storm, said although damage assessments have been done by personnel from relief agencies they were yet to receive even basic aid.

Yesterday, one St Thomas resident who left the public shelter and returned to her community, said that she and several other hurricane victims would welcome the gesture of a tarpaulin or even a dry mattress to sleep on.

Residents in both St Thomas and Portland told the Observer that they did not feel comfortable spending a long period of time in shelters.

However, Ronald Jackson, the head of the Office or Disaster Preparedness (ODPEM), said residents whose homes were completely destroyed by the hurricane may not have received supplies so far because they had left the emergency shelters.

“If they were at the shelter they would have got food. They don’t have a structure so whatever assistance they require now is more medium to long-term support,” he told the Observer last night.

Jackson said assessors were trying to determine who had lost structures and to see what level of rehabilitation grant support such persons were to receive.

“It is not a case that I can give them a tarpaulin because they don’t have any four walls to put it over,” he said.

Jackson said, too, that some persons may not have received assistance as yet because the assessors did not know where to find them.

Jackson said that within the next two weeks to a month the relief operation would move towards the rehabilitation and reconstruction stage.

“We saw a figure of more than 1,000 homes being totally destroyed and so we will have to look at long term rehabilitation for them,” he said.

Yesterday, Sylvan Daley, a resident of Duhaney Pen in St Thomas, said that he has yet to receive any form of assistance, even though his house was severely damaged by the hurricane.

“Me never know say something like this could gwaan and people no really care, me no know if is because a St Thomas we deh,” he told the Observer.

Daley admitted to seeing assessors from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in the community taking information but said that was all.

He said that he had heard a report of ‘somebody’ giving out sugar, oil and flour to hurricane victims, but said a number of people had not received any.

“Right now is over Miss Francis’ (his neighbour) yard some people have to be camping; them just mek up a tent and a sleep in there,” Daley said, referring to fellow residents who had their houses completely destroyed when angry waves battered the buildings during the hurricane.

There were others, he said, who had already gone to clear a plot of land in the hope of rebuilding a house.

“They go and just take a piece of land and a start see if they can put up something for themselves but them don’t even get a tarpaulin or mattress and them lost everything,” said Daley.

Daley’s story was similar to three other Duhaney Pen residents whom the Observer spoke with yesterday.

One resident told the Observer that although there were several displaced families in the community, they opted not to remain in the shelters but were staying with friends and relatives all over. “Nobody no want to live in shelters, so those who have house still standing put up others even if they have to sleep on the floor,” he said.

Yesterday, Richard Darby, an assistant shelter manager at Manchioneal in Portland, said some residents had received food supplies but nothing else, even though they had already been assessed. He said there were five families consisting of 27 persons still at the shelter. Others have since returned to their communities to salvage, on their own, what was left of their homes.

Yesterday, head of the St Thomas Parish Council, Mayor Joan Spencer, proposed the establishment of a central emergency shelter for the parish.

According to Spencer, a dedicated parish shelter would reduce the need to use schools as emergency shelters for extended periods.

In Manchester, there were similar reports of hurricane victims being assessed, but were still to get even basic relief.

A resident of Land Settlement in Manchester, who gave her name only as Gloria, said no assessors had visited her home even though she was there every day after the storm, trying to effect repairs to her damaged roof.

She said that she desperately needed a tarpaulin to cover her roof temporarily. “Right now the rain falling and is bucketfuls of water me had to bail out,” she said.

In the meantime, the ODPEM’s Jackson, said that within the next two weeks to a month the relief operation should move towards rehabilitation and reconstruction.

More than 1,000 homes across the island, he said, had been totally destroyed and so the ODPEM would need to look at long-term rehabilitation for residents.