Disaster Registration Centres in Port Antonio

The Portland Parish Disaster Committee has established a number of registration centres for persons to report property loss and other damage suffered as a result of Hurricane Ivan.
The decision came out of an emergency meeting of the committee held at the Portland Parish Council on Monday (Sept.13).
Present at the meeting were representatives of the Portland Parish Council, the Jamaica Fire Service, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Salvation Army, National Water Commission (NWC) and the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo).
Registration of the affected persons is now being carried out at the office of the Portland Parish Council on Giddeon Avenue in Port Antonio. Other centres will be brought into operation during the course of this week to facilitate affected persons in other parts of the parish.
Several residents of the parish suffered losses and damage to their homes during the onslaught of the hurricane resulting in many persons now being housed in shelters.
“There were up to 40 official shelters in operation during and immediately after the hurricane, with over 1,000 persons housed in them”, Secretary Manager of the Portland Parish Council, Franklyn Smith has said, informing that a team from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security was carrying out needs assessment.
In terms of the restoration of water and electricity supplies, it was reported at the meeting that everything was being done to reinstate these services as early as possible and the JPSCo had promised that electricity would be restored to sections of Port Antonio as early as today.
Meanwhile, the Port Antonio Health Department has reported that a sanitation damage assessment was being done to determine the sanitation needs of the parish and the Department is urging residents to boil all drinking water.