Rushing Relief to Jamaica After Hurricane Melissa

Samaritan's Purse is sending our Emergency Field Hospital, many tons of emergency aid, and dozens of relief specialists to Jamaica to meet urgent needs in the wake of Hurricane Melissa. We are planning continual airlifts to the island.

The Emergency Field Hospital, airlifted on Nov. 2, will have more than 30 inpatient beds, plus an operating room, intensive care unit, emergency room, obstetric ward, laboratory, pharmacy, and blood bank. The medical unit will be set up in Black River, near where Hurricane Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 storm. The coastal town is currently without power and access is difficult. Local infrastructure, including the hospital, was completely destroyed..

Earlier airlifts, Oct. 30 and 31, included community water systems, shelter materials, household water filters, solar lights, hygiene kits, and other supplies. The community water systems can serve 10,000 people per day. We are in regular communication with more than 200 church partners on the ground in Jamaica.

“Hurricane Melissa hammered a path of destruction across Jamaica, severely damaging homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses. Please pray for those who have lost so much and for our teams as we go in Jesus’ Name.”

Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Jamaica in the early afternoon, Oct. 28, as a deadly Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 185 mph. The island nation bore the brunt of the catastrophic storm—the most powerful storm on record to ever hit the country—with extreme storm surge, high winds, and torrential rain. This triggered flash flooding and landslides. Tens of thousands of people are in shelters. The majority of the island is without power.

Samaritan’s Purse is planning multiple airlifts to bring shelter materials, medical supplies, hygiene kits, solar lights, community water filtration systems, and other emergency relief.

Please be in prayer for all those in the path of this major storm—the strongest on the planet this year.