[CubaNews] JAMAICA OBSERVER: Cuba tells Jamaica thanks for hurricane relief

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

JAMAICA OBSERVER

Cuba tells Jamaica thanks for hurricane relief
BY KIMONE THOMPSON Senior staff reporter thompsonk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20080922T190000-0500_140453_OBS_CUBA_TELLS_JAMAICA_THANKS_FOR_HURRICANE_RELIEF.asp

CUBA on Saturday praised the Jamaican Government for donating food, toiletries, bedding and pharmaceuticals to that country.

The goods will be distributed to Cuban families who were affected by two recent hurricanes, although Jamaica itself was hit by one of the storms.

Workers on the port in Santiago de Cuba unload mattresses from the HMJS Middlesex, which transported the relief supplies.

Estimated at $5.5 million, the goods, which were donated by several private sector companies and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), were transported to Cuba by the Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard.

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike battered Cuba severely, damaging nearly 387,000 homes, and destroying another 63,000.

Seven deaths were reported.

Representative of the foreign relations arm of the Cuban Government, Vicente Gonzalez (right) shakes hands with Lieutenant Commander Paul Wright of the JDF Coast Guard aboard the HMJS Middlesex, when the vessel docked on Saturday. (Photos: Kimone Thompson)

"It's a very nice [gesture] from the Jamaican people," said a representative of the Cuban International Affairs Ministry, Vicente Gonzalez. "The losses we have [sustained] in these last two hurricanes have been very great. The value is about US $5 billion but the more valuable thing is that we have lost some people too," he said.

According to Gonzalez, who was speaking with Cuban and Jamaican journalists at the port in Santiago de Cuba on Saturday, emergency shelters in all the provinces were still open. He could not say, however, how many persons were still at these shelters.

Santiago itself suffered no damage to speak of "but some other towns in the country have been very, very badly affected", according to Gonzalez.

"Eighty per cent of the houses in the municipality of Banes in the province of Holguin was destroyed and the people are still trying to find at least a roof to put over their heads," he said.

The tight schedule of the Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard and the distance to the damaged areas, however, did not allow Jamaican journalists who accompanied the coast guard the opportunity to travel to any of the hard-hit areas.

Gonzalez was unable to say how any countries had offered assistance to Cuba, but was full of praises for the help received from the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

"It's very important that we receive help from foreign countries and we value very much the humanitarian action, and we will ensure that the people that have been affected receive this help. A lot of persons have lost everything; houses are devastated, there are no beds, no mattresses, so it's very important that we receive help like we have got today," Gonzalez told Jamaican reporters Saturday.

Jamaica also sustained damage from Gustav, which was a tropical storm when it hit the island on August 28. Damage to the agricultural sector alone has been estimated at $1.6 billion.

"The Jamaican Government also wanted to assist countries in the region that were affected the hurricane, even though we ourselves were affected," said Commander Paul Wright who captained the HMJS Middlesex.

Wright was speaking on behalf of the Government of Jamaica, which, through the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ODPEM, organised the relief effort.

The goods were transported on board HMJS Middlesex, one of three county class vessels operated by the JDF Coast Guard. Once the crew had cleared Cuban immigration and customs, it took roughly six-and-a-half hours to off-load the relief supplies, which were packed in three containers, two of them measuring 40 feet.

=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================

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