MLSS completes over 56,000 damage assessments

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security says more than 56,000 national household damage assessments have been completed and the pace of the work is being accelerated.

The assessments are to facilitate support to families affected by Hurricane Melissa.

Labour and Social Security Minister Pearnel Charles Jnr highlights that since December 4, about 540 trained assessors are deployed daily using the Jamaica household damage, impact and needs assessment platform, executed by coordinated multi-agency teams led by ministry staff.

56,267 assessments have been done.

The ministry has activated deployment enhancements, including, assessors funded by the World Food Programme, JDF National Service Corps members and ministry officers repositioned from some parishes to support worst affected parishes.

The ministry says it’s widening its network, deploying additional support including career field officers through the world food programme and private sector partners, officers under the social inclusion programme, partnerships with UNDP, World Central Kitchen, Peace Corps, Ministry of Justice, UWI, and HEART/NSTA Trust.

This is to ensure relief gets to the residents more quickly.

Meantime, the ministry’s surge plan will see some 600 assessors completing 117 thousand household assessments.

The social security ministry explains that despite strong progress, the scale of national impact far exceeds its current field capacity, necessitating a structured inter-government approach to complete the estimated 150,000 household assessments required.

This aim is to complete the remaining household damage assessments within the accelerated timeline and to finalize the national dataset required for recovery and rehabilitation planning.

The ministry says it requires 20 working days for full execution of the four-week surge.

It proposes deploying 200 three-member teams across the six most severely affected parishes to complete the remaining 117, 000 household assessments within this 20-day operational window.

The ministry affirms that this nationwide operation, driven by expanded personnel, strengthened military collaboration and unified cross-agency coordination, marks the fastest and most comprehensive assessment effort in Jamaica’s disaster response history.