Labour Ministry Prepared for Relief Efforts

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is ready to manage national welfare and relief efforts in response to the potential impact of Tropical Storm Melissa.

On Wednesday (October 22), the Humanitarian Assistance Committee (HAC) was convened to finalise coordination among key partners and review parish readiness.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr. who was speaking during a TikTok Live, said the Ministry has ensured that resources are prepositioned.

“We are ensuring that we have enough resources to make more than 10,000 food packages. We have hundreds of mattresses, stoves, and tarpaulins that will be distributed as necessary. Some of the parish offices have already come to collect and to distribute so that if they are cut off, they would have had [the relief items] already,” he said.

The Ministry, which has primary responsibility for household damage assessment, relief distribution, and emergency grant payment, has taken proactive measures to ensure a swift and efficient response across all 14 parishes.

All parish offices have been fully mobilised and equipped to respond as needed.

“We are utilising tablets and phones so we have a better system to collect data. We have a new Jamaica Household Damage, Impact and Needs Assessment (JHDINA) system, which allows us to get the right data collected so we can be able to provide rehabilitation grants to persons faster and as needed,” the Minister said.

Training sessions on the latest version of the JHDINA damage assessment tool are scheduled to be conducted virtually on October 23 and again on October 30 to ensure that all field teams are prepared.

For more information persons can reach out to the Ministry by calling the Labour Division at 1(876) 922-9500-17 and/or the Security Division at 1(876) 922-8000-13.

Persons can also visit mlss.gov.jm for more.