THERE are almost 200 Ministry of Labour and Social Security employees in western Jamaica who, despite losing their homes and, in some instances, living in shelters, have continued to execute their duties post-Hurricane Melissa.

Portfolio Minister Pearnel Charles Jr disclosed that at least 10 of those employees have nothing left.

“What is most encouraging, inspiring, and amazing is that they were still out working. I came upon a lady in St James, and she was packing some goods, smiling with me, laughing with me, and talking. She said, ‘Minister, I’m so glad to see you.’ And I said, ‘Where do you live?’ She said, ‘Catherine Hall.’ I said, ‘Catherine Hall? You live there, or is that the area that you take care of?’ She said, ‘No, I live there.’ I said, ‘You have been impacted?’ and she said, ‘Yeah, my car wash away,’ and I said, ‘What are you doing here?’ She said, ‘I have a job to do,’ ” the minister told journalists at a
Jamaica Observer Press Club on December 18.

“There are so many persons who may not be ministers, or you don’t know their name, but they are the representation of what Jamaica is when you talk about recovery. There are several staff members whom I have to acknowledge, several volunteers who are from churches, from the community itself, from the private sector, service clubs, across government, who have come in,” he added.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security, in collaboration with various agencies and organisations, leads the coordination of disaster recovery. Charles Jr said that the team, up to 10:00 am on December 18, had already completed more than 50,000 household damage assessments across the affected parishes of Hanover, St James, St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, and Trelawny, in a month and a half. He said the results show a massive improvement in the recovery process when compared to Hurricane Beryl, which brushed Jamaica’s shoreline last year in July. Approximately 20,000 assessments were conducted by the ministry then, six to eight months after the passage of Beryl.

“It’s a busy time for the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, particularly because we are a ministry that is required to coordinate welfare for the vulnerable persons in this country. That includes persons impacted by Hurricane Melissa — all persons, but in particular, we have categories of persons like persons with disabilities, senior citizens, children, persons who are low income, et cetera — who need some targeted support,” said Charles Jr.

Some of the ministry’s partners are the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities, National Council for Senior Citizens, World Food Programme, Food For the Poor, and Salvation Army.

“We are out collaborating to do a number of things to distribute welfare in terms of packages, mattresses, solar alarms, whatever it is that’s needed for persons to get that immediate relief. We are out now primarily doing assessments, which means our team is out right now while we speak. We have persons either being trained or out on the ground deployed to do household damage assessments,” he shared.

Charles Jr also sought to set straight claims that the Government does not have a presence in the disaster zones.

“You may very well go out and see Ministry of Labour and Social Security parish officers with the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) distributing World Food Programme packages. That’s something which I think causes a little confusion for people in communities who say the Government is not here because they are getting something from a private organisation. The Government’s role in this relief and recovery is not just to purchase and distribute, but to coordinate, and coordination means that we have to be prudent in how we utilise funding as well as prudent in how we utilise human capital.

“…For instance, in the first four weeks, we coordinated with JDF and with the United States partners who provided Black Hawk helicopters, Chinooks, and used them with our L429 helicopters. We did a lot of airlifts, we did recovery, and we did evacuation,” the minister stressed.

Minister of Labour and Social Security Pearnel Charles Jr addressing a meeting of the Jamaica Observer Press Club. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)