KINGSTON, Jamaica—United States Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) personnel arrived on the island Thursday to provide hurricane relief assistance following Hurricane Melissa.

The group which arrived at the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston was received by US Embassy Charge ‘d’Affaires Scott Renner, Transport Minister Daryl Vaz and Minister for Education, Skills, Youth and Information Senator Dana Morris Dixon.

Relief supplies also arrived on the flight.

United States Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) (Photo: Ramon Thompson)

“The US government, the US7 embassy, we stand with the people of Jamaica. I’m standing with them right now. You may have heard over the last few days President Trump and Secretary Rubio expressed their strong support for Jamaica. As the minister alluded to, this is the first concrete example of that in terms of we’re sending in not only aid on this plane but also experts,” Renner told reporters.

“You’ll see 40 or 50 people come off of this plane, including Fairfax County Fire search and rescue experts, because we’re here to help the people of Jamaica recover from this devastating hurricane, and I hope to be out here all week long greeting other shipments as they come in,” he continued.

United States Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) personnel arrived on the island Thursday (Photo: Ramon Thompson)

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Daryl Vaz expressed gratitude to the United States government for its support.

“We have already received 12 relief flights today, and the day is not over yet. We are really thankful for this huge shipment on this huge plane that has arrived here courtesy of the U.S. government, and I’m understanding that there’s many more to come, including a number of assets, meaning helicopter assets that can act as hospitals and also search and rescue and distribution,” he said.

Vaz also sought to reassure Jamaicans that support is being mobilised to help Jamaica ‘rebuild as quickly as possible’.

“I want to just send a signal of reassurance and confidence to the people of Jamaica, some of whom feel that nothing is happening. It’s been 24 hours, 36 hours since the hurricane, so we are moving as fast as possible, but obviously logistics are always a challenge in the height and an aftermath of a disaster, but this has given me great reassurance that the world loves us, loves Jamaica, and obviously is going to do everything to help us to rebuild as quickly as possible. I want to thank the US government and the Chargé d’Affaires very much for all of this, and we look forward to seeing what’s coming out of this plane now,” he said.

(Videos and photos: Ramon Thompson)