Providing Relief in Jamaica After Hurricane Melissa

Hurricane Melissa Relief
014078
$
Give

Medical teams are caring for patients in Black River and isolated communities as we continue delivery of critical relief after the Category 5 storm.

Latest Updates

  • Our Emergency Field Hospital in Black River and mobile medical units in hard-to-reach places have treated more than 1,800 patients, including nearly three dozen surgeries. Multiple airlifts delivered over 500,000 pounds of relief.
  • Large-scale community water treatment systems are providing thousands of gallons of clean water. Many areas remain cut off by severed roads and bridges. Hundreds of thousands of people remain without power.
  • We have distributed thousands of shelter kits, household water filters, hygiene items, solar lights, and other supplies, including more than 2,000 Bibles.
See the Latest Photos, Watch the Latest Videos, Read the Latest Article

Our Emergency Field Hospital staff and mobile medical teams are meeting vast need as Jamaicans face days ahead without a working hospital or critical infrastructure. Multiple Samaritan's Purse airlifts have carried hundreds of thousands of pounds of emergency aid, and scores of disaster specialists to meet needs in Black River and beyond.

The local hospital in Black River, near where Hurricane Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 storm, was destroyed and nearly every other building was severely damaged. Our Emergency Field Hospital is filling the gap with 30 inpatient beds, plus an operating room, intensive care unit, emergency room, obstetric ward, laboratory, pharmacy, and blood bank.

Our helicopters have run more than 100 missions to transport supplies and our mobile medical teams to inaccessible areas so we can care for those with no other hope of treatment. Doctors are seeing broken bones and terribly infected wounds that have not been addressed since the hurricane hit. Between these mobile units and our Emergency Field Hospital, we’ve already treated more than 1,800 patients, which has included a large number of surgeries.

“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.”

Franklin Graham President, Samaritan’s Purse

With five community water systems, including a recently added reverse osmosis desalination unit, we are serving in multiple locations providing many thousands of gallons of clean water every day and we continue to distribute shelter materials, household water filters, solar lights, hygiene kits, and other supplies to families in need. We are working alongside dozens of local church partners to meet needs and minister to hurting communities 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. Thousands of people remain in shelters, and the majority of the island is still without power.

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

Photos

A Samaritan’s Purse physician examines a young patient as her mother offers comfort inside our Emergency Field Hospital in Black River, Jamaica. A Samaritan’s Purse team member distributes shelter materials to families. Edward Graham, Samaritan’s Purse chief operating officer, visits with residents in Jamaica as our teams respond after Hurricane Melissa. Graham connects with a group of local children in Jamaica, eventually breaking into laughter at the young boy’s energetic expressions. Group of Jamaican residents collecting clean water from a Samaritan’s Purse filtration system after Hurricane Melissa. Aerial view of Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital tents and equipment being set up in Black River, Jamaica, after Hurricane Melissa. Samaritan’s Purse worker operates a water filtration system near the shoreline amid hurricane debris in Jamaica. Collapsed church structure with splintered wooden beams and debris after Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica. Samaritan’s Purse worker prays with a Jamaican woman and child amid storm-damaged homes after Hurricane Melissa. Two Samaritan’s Purse workers walk down a damaged street lined with debris and broken power poles in Jamaica. Interior of a church with its roof torn off and debris scattered inside after Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica. Samaritan’s Purse workers load white relief boxes marked “International Relief” onto pallets for shipment to Jamaica. Samaritan’s Purse aircraft being unloaded with large pallets of supplies for Jamaica. Samaritan’s Purse helicopter taking off to deliver aid to remote hurricane-affected areas in Jamaica. Aerial photo showing extensive hurricane damage to homes and streets across Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa.

Videos

English
English Español