Donations to Official Disaster Relief Portal Now at US$1.13 Million and J$55.85 Million

Donations to the Government’s official disaster relief and recovery portal, supportjamaica.gov.jm, totalled US$1.13 million and J$55.850 million, as at 2:03 a.m. on Thursday (November 13).

The Support Jamaica website was launched by the Government to mobilise support, channel relief and coordinate recovery efforts in the aftermath of Category Five Hurricane Melissa.

Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, provided an update during a press briefing at Jamaica House, on November 13.

The donations relate to the website and credit card transactions. The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) is expected to provide an update on the donations that have been received via direct deposit to the accounts.

Furthermore, the Minister said a new streamlined relief shipment portal was introduced on the supportjamaica.gov.jm platform.

“This will enable anyone sending humanitarian aid to Jamaica through ODPEM to complete all the required forms in one place,” she added.

“You have to do an ODPEM form, a civil aviation form – we’re putting them all together, so whether you’re consigning goods by air or sea, the portal captures donor details, invoice and packing list that are needed by ODPEM. Customs will also have their documentation there, that will be given in that one place and then also the information needed by the Civil Aviation Authority or the Maritime Authority of Jamaica will be all there,” the Minister said.

She emphasised that this will make the process more efficient. “We are consolidating, we are making the process a lot more efficient, so that you don’t have to go to multiple places and fill out multiple forms… and we will be working with donors who want to send things to Jamaica to use that portal to make their lives so much more easy,” the Minister said.