Cost estimates from Hurricane Beryl are rolling in, adding to the stress for all of us.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the preliminary repair bill for roads is $10.25 billion. More than 500 parochial roads have been affected with work ongoing to clear blockages.

We hear from the education ministry of an estimate of $797 million to repair damage to schools. That figure is expected to soar once the final check is done. We are also hearing of considerable damage to branches of the Jamaica Library Service, Ministry of Education facilities, and the Manning Child Care facility in southern St Elizabeth.

In agriculture, we gather from president of Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) Mr Lenworth Fulton that the popular annual farm festival, Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show, set for early next month, could be called off.

“With the devastation of our farmers all over Jamaica you cannot pull them out to come to a show,” Mr Fulton told this newspaper.

Add to that the heavy damage to the showground at Denbigh in Clarendon and the degree of difficulty only increases.

Beryl’s strong winds put paid to banana plantations across the island and other tree crops, including citrus, mangoes, avocados have been devastated.

We know that some farm-rich communities in the southern belt are only now being properly assessed. And anecdotal reports suggest that losses for small-scale chicken rearers, caused as much by the loss of electricity as anything else, may well drive a significant number out of business.

All of that means Mr Fulton is likely to be proven correct in his early assessment that an official tally of $1 billion in farm damage is understated.

Crucially, the Government, through its Relief Emergency Assistance and Community Help (REACH) programme, is moving to help those most in need.

Again, we applaud the prime minister’s emphasis on non-partisanship and avoidance of waste and corruption in the distribution of benefits. The principles of transparency, fairness and good order must be followed to the max.

Also it cannot be expected that the authorities at national and local level can fix all.

We note pledges of support from charity groups, local and overseas, including the United Nations, national governments, and multinationals. All will be a big help, but at the local level, neighbours must strive to be keepers of their brothers and sisters like never before.

No child next door should go hungry once we are in position to prevent it.

Ultimately, it’s the little kindnesses, one to another, that will play a huge part in pulling us through this crisis.

Nor should we confine ourselves to just the obvious considerations, for as the People’s National Party (PNP) spokesman on health Dr Alfred Dawes reminds us, stress and disruption caused by hurricanes can elevate blood pressure and blood sugar levels leading to heart attacks, strokes, and death.

There is also the much-ignored mental side. Dr Dawes reminds us that post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety often arise as a result of catastrophes.

And further, that “A kind word or gesture can go a long way in reassuring [others] that they are not alone.”

Now, more than ever, Jamaicans need to be exemplary neighbours.