Guyana to provide hurricane relief to Jamaica, Haiti – Pres Ali

Last Updated on Thursday, 30 October 2025, 22:09 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali on Thursday said Guyana would be assisting storm-battered Jamaica and Haiti, even as Guyanese in Jamaica were already beginning to receive support.

“We will be supporting our Jamaican brothers and sisters and those in Haiti in a comprehensive way,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

The Guyanese leader said he was working closely with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness on meeting some of the “urgent needs” of that sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state where reports say between 14 and 19 persons were killed by the category five monster storm.

Haiti, also a member of the regional block, recorded at least 25 deaths.

In terms of support specifically for Guyanese in Jamaica, Dr Ali said that has already started. “I have also instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deliver urgent care packages to all Guyanese students and families and this has started,” he said.

President Ali told Demerara Waves Online News that Guyana’s Prime Minister Mark Phillips was leading a wider team including the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Ministry of Health, Guyana Power and Light and the private sector to provide “broader support”. “During the next 48 hours, this team, in discussion with the Jamaican authorities, will be finalizing the full support which will include technical support in-country. An initial set of equipment and resources will arrive in Jamaica before this weekend,” Dr Ali said.

The CDC, government’s disaster response arm, earlier on Thursday said Guyana’s immediate and initial response would include the mobilisation and deployment of critical relief supplies including generators, tarpaulins, and chainsaws to support immediate response efforts in Jamaica.”

Hospitals, power stations, houses, government buildings and other key institutions and entities have all been either damaged or destroyed by the storm, the worst in Jamaica’s recorded history.

Jamaica’s Minister of Energy, Telecoms and Transport, Daryl Vaz told a news conference on Thursday that over 70 percent of transmission lines remained out of service due to severe damage. He said as of October 29, power was restored to 52,00o of the 542,000 customers, leaving 490,000 still without electricity.

Jamaica’s local government minister Anthony McKenzie, who is also Deputy Chairman of the National Disaster Risk Council, told a news conference on Thursday that the number of persons in the 521 shelters was down to “substantially” to 13,000.

“Persons who went to the shelter out of precaution have left those facilities and have gone back home,” he said.

Mr McKenzie also said 117 Jamaican soldiers as well as police and firefighters had been deployed to assist with search and rescue.