Hurricane Melissa kills at least 75, affects 5 million across the Caribbean

A week after Hurricane Melissa roared ashore in the Caribbean, its wrath still echoes across the islands — a storm that has claimed at least 75 lives and upended the lives of nearly 5 million people in Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica, a UN spokesperson said.

What began as a swirling tempest over the Atlantic has left behind a trail of ruin — more than 770,000 people displaced, and tens of thousands of homes, schools, and hospitals reduced to twisted wreckage. Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, said in New York that humanitarian agencies are working “around the clock” to support relief and recovery efforts across the region.

In Jamaica, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has rushed in additional personnel to bolster the government’s emergency response and coordinate aid on the ground.

Across the sea in Cuba, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has begun distributing agricultural tools, livestock feed, and fishing equipment to help families reclaim their livelihoods, while the World Food Programme (WFP) has deployed mobile warehouses, lighting towers, and tents to the battered eastern provinces.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is providing reproductive health kits and working closely with local groups to protect women and girls from gender-based violence — a rising concern amid displacement and loss. Simultaneously, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is delivering roofing materials, generators, and toolkits to help rebuild shattered homes and restore a semblance of normalcy.

Clean water, a lifeline in the aftermath of disaster, is also being secured: the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is distributing water storage and purification supplies capable of providing safe drinking water to nearly 16,000 people each day.

From the shores of Havana to the hills of Port-au-Prince, the Caribbean is rallying to heal — its people scarred but unbroken, and the world, through the UN’s steady hand, racing to help them rise again.

With IANS inputs