Cost of Hurricane Melissa could be astronomical, PM warns

 

Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness has again warned that the final tally of the cost of the damage caused by Hurricane Melissa could be astronomical.

 

Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday at Jamaica House, Prime Minister Holness argued that the extent of the damage wrought by the storm is being revealed daily. 

 

He said the damage is significant and will be a major strain in the country's budget. 

 

"You would have heard me say in the presentation to Parliament that the damage could be anywhere from US$6 to US$7 billion.  That is a conservative estimate. I have seen one economist saying something much more. I don't want to be alarmist, but we are going through the process of trying to assess the damage. But it is one thing to lose the physical assets of production, which by the way, if you were to compare the disaster of COVID to this disaster, we didn't lose any productive assets. In this one, we have lost productive assets. We have lost farms. We have lost businesses. We have lost schools. And we have to go and rebuild them.

 

"You have to put on top of that what it is going to cost to sustain the relief phase. What it's going to cost us for debris management - a major part of the operations; what it is going to cost us to sustain the food packages. There's a notion that we're getting a lot of aid and that will carry you through. That will carry you for a couple of weeks, if so many. We are going to have to put the budgetary allocation to carry the relief effort. And that is going to be significant," he conceded.

 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Holness again warned that members of the security forces have been instructed to take a zero tolerance approach to individuals engaging in criminal activities during the recovery exercise.

 

He was responding to allegations of persons being sexually assaulted in shelters and armed thugs robbing convoys transporting supplies to western Jamaica.

 

"I'd just make this appeal to every Jamaican. Yes, it's a difficult time. Yes, there is disaster all around. But now is not the time to take advantage of persons weaker than yourself. Now is the time to help and support and to show that you are a real man, not by holding up people at gunpoint and taking away the relief that they are bringing. Try helping them through the obstacles to deliver the relief. That is how you're going to get respect today. There is no respect that you're going to get from brandishing your gun. Let it be clear, the police have not let up on their operations," he cautioned.

Dr. Holness said the matter would be raised in Cabinet on Thursday.