JDF Establishes 22 Disaster Relief Outposts

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) has established 22 humanitarian assistance and disaster relief outposts to scale up the response to marooned communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, provided an update on the undertaking while making a statement in the House of Representatives on November 4.

The outposts have been established in Burnt Savannah, Newmarket and Springfield in St. Elizabeth; and Savanna-la-Mar, Darliston, Bigwood, Lennox, Bluefields, Bethel Town, Amity, Beeston Spring, Tatch Valley, Frome, Roaring River, Content and Glenbrook in Westmoreland; Catadupa, Cambridge, Adelphi, Maroon Town, in St. James; and Wirefence, Jackson Town, Falmouth and Perth in Trelawny.

“They will be establishing more outposts…the objective is that these will serve as humanitarian bases in what they call a ‘hub and spokes’ operation.

“So right now, they were moving humanitarian aid through airlift and other means directly to the various communities. The phase that they are transitioning into is to move it to the hub where they can store a lot, they can do 24-hour movement from the hub to all the communities including those that are marooned. That way, we can scale up rapidly, the response to communities that have not yet been serviced,” he the Prime Minister explained.

The number of marooned communities is estimated at over 30.