MONTEGO BAY, St James – Disaster Coordinator at the St James Parish Council, Tamoy Sinclair says persons in the parish who want to donate items to the relief efforts in Haiti can do so at the St James Red Cross, the Montego Bay branch of Food for the Poor, the Salvation Army and the Adventist Disaster Relief Agency (ADRA).

“I know a lot of persons are concerned and would love to aid the relief process… until we are advised of a finalised plan for collection of donated relief items, we are asking these individuals to visit the agencies that traditionally accept donations and state clearly the purpose of the donation, so the receivers know on whose behalf items are being collected,” Sinclair told the Observer West yesterday.

On Tuesday a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the neighbouring island of Haiti leaving a trail of disaster.

According to Senior Director of the Office of Disaster Preparedness, Horace Glaze, Jamaica’s role in the relief effort was scheduled to commence late yesterday with a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) sea vessel taking supplies to Haiti.

“We are still trying to get an idea of what is fully needed there (Haiti)… once the national programme is finalised, persons will be provided with all the information required, so they too can assist the process,” stated Glaze.

In the meantime, Sinclair said the parish’s disaster committee will be visiting another five institutions and business organisations during the course of this week as it continues its observation of Earthquake Week which began on Monday.

“I have already visited a number of institutions and will continue to do so throughout the remainder of Earthquake Week and the month of January…… businesses have already been contacted and a few are expected to carry out earthquake drills, which will climax with a presentation from the Disaster Unit during the debrief of each exercise,” said Sinclair.

Additionally she said, the St James Parish Council has distributed CDs and DVDs containing information on earthquakes to media houses with the hope that they will aid the council in getting critical information out to the public.

Jamaica has been hit by two major earthquakes in the past– 2,000 fatalities resulted from an earthquake in June 1692, and 1,000 persons died from the disaster created by the January 1907 earthquake.