Rushing Relief to Jamaica After Hurricane Melissa

Hurricane Melissa Relief
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Samaritan’s Purse has opened our Emergency Field Hospital on Jamaica. A large Disaster Assistance Response Team is on the ground. We continue to airlift tons of critical relief to the island in the wake of Hurricane Melissa. Please pray.

Latest Updates

  • Samaritan's Purse airlifted our Emergency Field Hospital to Jamaica and opened it on Nov. 5 in the devastated coastal town of Black River. Four total airlifts so far have brought 100 tons of relief to the island.
  • More relief flights are planned. Distributions are beginning to provide survivors with water, shelter, hygiene items, solar lights, and other supplies.
  • Many areas remain cut off by severed roads and bridges. More than half a million people remain without power.
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Samaritan's Purse has already sent our Emergency Field Hospital, many tons of emergency aid, and scores of relief specialists to Jamaica to meet urgent needs in the wake of Hurricane Melissa. We are planning continual airlifts to the island.

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 at least damaged. Our Emergency Field Hospital, now receiving patients, is set up there and has more than 30 inpatient beds, plus an operating room, intensive care unit, emergency room, obstetric ward, laboratory, pharmacy, and blood bank. The coastal town is currently without normal power and access is severely limited.

“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

Additional airlifts have 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. The first system is now operational in Black River. We are in regular communication with more than 200 church partners on the ground in Jamaica.

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

Group of Jamaican residents collecting clean water from a Samaritan’s Purse filtration system after Hurricane Melissa. People filling containers with clean water from a Samaritan’s Purse community filtration system in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa. Samaritan’s Purse workers assembling medical tents for the Emergency Field Hospital in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa. Samaritan’s Purse and Jamaican Defense Force member assemble the Emergency Field Hospital after Hurricane Melissa in Black River, Jamaica. 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 staff member kneels beside water purification equipment, connecting hoses at sunset in Jamaica. 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.

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