Three months ago, a group of people from Portland formed an organisation to assist the needy in their parish. Their first venture was to rebuild a school there, but then a ferocious force of nature, Hurricane Melissa, struck, and there was an immediate change of plans.

Helping those impacted by the Category 5 storm then became the first venture for the Portland Past Students Health Network (PPSHN). Hurricane Melissa caused widespread destruction in Jamaica’s south-west region, and while not as devastated, Portland and St Thomas in the east also took a battering.

Since early December, the 56-member non-profit has dispatched teams to various areas in Portland, including Moore Town, Mill Bank, Cornwall Barracks Basic School, Comfort Castle Primary School, Katawud Ginger House, Berrydale, Windsor and Nonsuch.

Residents affected by the hurricane, such as Gary Thompson of Comfort Castle, welcomed the assistance.

“I’m so glad seh somebody remember mi, ‘cause from Melissa blow on di 28th of October is di first I see someone come in an’ give mi a helping hand. I was living under tarpaulin for almost a month, ‘cause I lost my whole roof, my bedding, everything. And I don’t see any authorities come in,” he said.

Stacey McKoy-Bryan, treasurer of the PPSHN, told Observer Online that the situation is desperate in most of the areas they visited.

“Some of the communities are very bad because people lost their houses completely. Some lost roofs, and are staying under tarpaulins or staying with neighbours,” she said.

Several attempts by Observer Online to contact Portland Parish Council officials to comment on the recovery situation in the parish were unsuccessful.

The PPSHN was formed in July, with 20 of its members based in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The remainder, including McKoy-Bryan, are in Jamaica.

She said the fledgling group charted their plan of action once they heard of Melissa’s imminent danger. Through her colleague, Nadine Blake, they reached out to American charity companies, Operation BBQ Relief and Mercury One, which have provided meals to people in hard-hit areas.

The parishes of St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, St James and Trelawny bore the brunt of Hurricane Melissa’s brutal 185 miles per hour winds. It left thousands of people homeless and caused 45 deaths.

— Howard Campbell