Gov’t to Provide More Than $1b in Hurricane Relief Grant Aid Support

The Government has announced a raft of measures, totalling more than $1 billion, to provide grants and assistance to Jamaicans affected by Hurricane Beryl.

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, outlined these while making a statement on the Hurricane Beryl Relief and Recovery Efforts in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (July 16).

He said based on the damage assessment received, to date, an allocation of $1 billion has been earmarked to provide grants and assistance for restoration, reconstruction and relocation.

“The condition that we have agreed [on] is that all potential beneficiaries must be assessed. So… there will be persons who have damage, but not every house that is damaged will qualify for grants for restoration, reconstruction and relocation,” Mr. Holness explained.

He said the Ministry of Labour and Social Security will outline the eligibility criteria.

“We have established them but we haven’t finalised them. We can’t finalise them until we have the full assessment, because you want your criteria to match what you have accessed. So, clearly, income is going to be a parameter that will gauge who qualifies, and for persons who have income, there are programmes that I will announce shortly… and even for persons with insurance,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr. Holness informed that a standard grant will be assigned to the classification of damage.

“We don’t want a situation where one person gets ‘X’ here and then in another parish with the same damage someone gets ‘X’ plus ‘Y’. What we want is a standard, which is why we are waiting on the completion of the assessment so that we can properly categorise the damage and then assign a grant amount to the classification,” he stated.

Mr. Holness advised that all beneficiaries will be properly documented in a central database.

“The other criteria, which must be fulfilled for all beneficiaries, is that they must be properly documented, and they will be placed in a single database. In a crisis, you cannot have double dipping… and then somebody else gets nothing. For the MPs (Members of Parliament) who are assisting, using the funds [provided to assist with recovery efforts], the CDF (Constituency Development Fund) will require that you submit the names of persons and possibly their TRN (Taxpayer Registration Number) so that we are able to cross-match,” he informed.

“This is not to say that you can’t get another benefit if the first benefit didn’t get you up. But what I’m saying [is], in this phase, let us ensure that everybody gets something and then if there is further need to assess, then we go again,” the Prime Minister further stated.

Meanwhile, Mr. Holness said 5,153 household damage assessments have been completed.

The findings indicate that 321 households have been totally destroyed across all parishes, 2,121 were severely damaged, while 2,711 sustained minor damage.

“With the exception of Manchester, Clarendon and St. Elizabeth, assessments have been substantially completed. It is estimated that assessment in these three parishes will require another week to complete,” Mr. Holness stated.

He said members of the Jamaica Defence Force Disaster Assistance and Recovery Team (DART), volunteers from church groups, as well as more than 200 summer youth workers are being deployed to assist in completing the assessment.

The Prime Minister indicated that $200 million will be allocated under the Rehabilitation Grants Programme.

Through this initiative, grants will be provided to the operators of micro businesses, such as small shops, who were affected.

“This is not going to be a general grant that everybody can apply for. You would have had to suffer losses [which] must be assessed and then, based upon the assessment, a grant will be approved,” Mr. Holness explained.

He added that Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., will provide further details on the programme.

Meanwhile Mr. Holness said the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) life certificate requirement for the August payments will be waived.

He further indicated that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has provided 9,005 food packages, 1,910 tarpaulins, 676 mattresses, 1,243 hygiene kits and 415 cases of water to affected households.