The nearly 500 families whose houses were totally destroyed during the passage of Hurricane Beryl are to benefit from a Government grant of $400,000 to help them get back on their feet.
At the same time, families whose houses were severely damaged will receive a grant of up to $150,000 and those who experienced minor damage will receive up to $50,000.
The grants will be made available through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Portfolio Minister, Pearnel Charles Jr, made the announcement Tuesday in the House of Representatives as he updated the nation on the work of his ministry in the relief and recovery effort.
He said efforts will be made to disburse the funds as quickly as possible.
“We recognise the immediate challenges presented by using cheque payments and we are exploring options for electronic payments and cash cards to expedite these grants and improve service delivery,” he said.
“We must approach this restoration process as a partnership of all stakeholders; it is therefore expected that these grants will be supplemented by a range of other initiatives, including donor funds, contributions from the Diaspora, private sector initiatives such as the recently launched National Commercial Bank Foundation’s, Building a Better Jamaica Fund, the CDF (Constituency Development Fund), and Food for the Poor,” he added.
Charles Jr said Food for the Poor has already replaced 20 roofs in Clarendon, one of the hardest-hit parishes, and will activate similar efforts in St Elizabeth this Thursday.
He also told the Parliament that a total of 8,397 household assessments have been completed as of July 22. Of this number, “453 houses have been assessed as totally destroyed, 3,221 severely damaged and 4,723 [received] minor damage”.
The minister shared that the highest incidence of damage occurred in St Elizabeth, with 1,919 households affected, followed by Clarendon, where 1,243 households have been affected.
“Clarendon experienced the highest incidence of totally destroyed houses – with 133 houses. Another 617, nearly 50 per cent of the 1,243 are severely damaged. The remaining 493 experienced minor damage,” he said.
St Elizabeth experienced the highest incidence of damage, and the highest occurrence of severely damaged houses – 952 of 1,919, while 64 houses were completely destroyed. The remaining 903 experienced minor damage.
Meanwhile, Charles Jr said based on the analysis of the damage assessments completed so far, the projection is that approximately 8,700 houses islandwide will require some level of support from the government to aid in their recovery and rebuilding.
“Of this amount, the vast majority would have suffered minor damage” he noted.
In the meantime, the ministry, through its rehabilitation grants programme will be targeting 500 micro business operators for a $100,000 grant. It has been determined that they lost their livelihoods because of the hurricane. The total cost is $50 million.
And, under the ministry’s Social Intervention Programme, $30 million has been allocated to provide grants to 200 students at the tertiary level valuing $150,000 each. These students will be identified from households that have been severely impacted by the hurricane.
