Faith-based disaster relief groups mobilize to respond to Hurricane Melissa

(RNS) — Before Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica and Haiti on Tuesday (Oct. 28), faith-based disaster relief groups were already making plans to respond.

Melissa, a Category 5 storm, has already rolled over Jamaica and Cuba and caused flooding and storm surges across the Caribbean, killing 20 people in Haiti, according to The New York Times. The full toll from the storm, downgraded to Category 2 by Wednesday afternoon, is expected to rise as authorities assess the damage and loss of life over the next few days.

Faith groups, including World Relief, Catholic Relief Services and Operation Blessing, have mobilized to send supplies in the wake of the storm, while also raising funds for an extended relief effort. Staff already on the ground are helping with early recovery as the waters recede. World Relief is the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals.

“The damage is already considerable, and we’re bracing for worse,” Pascal Bimenyimana, country director of World Relief Haiti, said in a statement. “We are deeply concerned about the continuous rains and the extent of the flooding, preventing access to families left stranded in vulnerable regions.”

Send Relief, a Southern Baptist humanitarian aid group, has begun stockpiling supplies in Cuba, making plans with its partners in Haiti and preparing to send trained disaster relief to other Caribbean islands once the storm abates. The group recently sent 50 generators to Cuba, where they will be used to provide emergency power for shelters, feeding programs and other responders.

“Send Relief is coordinating with regional Baptist partners to deliver emergency supplies and support long-term recovery as soon as conditions allow,” the group said in a statement.

 Jason Cox, vice president of Send Relief said that an assessment team of train volunteers is headed to Jamaica and should be on the ground by Saturday, followed by more volunteers as needed.  “We’ve got trained volunteers, queued up and ready to respond based on that initial assessment,” Cox told RNS in an interview. 

He said that Send Relief is working closely with Baptists in Haiti and Cuba to respond as well, sending money and other support.  “We’re releasing more funds for them to to be able to provide food, cooking supplies, roofing, temporary shelter and things as specific as mosquito repellent bracelets,” he said. 

 ”There’s a lot of work to be done,” he said. 

Catholic Relief Services, which has 100 staff in Haiti and works with partner groups in the Caribbean, is raising funds for disaster relief and making plans to respond to the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. “Our emergency teams are securing offices and warehouses, preparing prepositioned shelter and clean water supplies, and helping people secure their businesses, homes and fields,” said a statement on the group’s website.

Staff from Catholic Relief Services had supplies like food, water, blankets tarps, mattress and flashlights set to go in St. Lucia ahead of the hurricane making landfall in Jamaica. The group is also working closely with Caritas Haiti, another Catholic group, to assess damage. 

 Cris Lopez, CRS emergency coordinator for the Caribbean, told RNS in an email that Catholic churches, schools, rectories and convents in Jamaica have lost roofs, while some churches are housing families in parish halls, with nothing over their heads but tarps.

Lopez said that local volunteers in Jamaica have been trained to assess needs after a disaster, to deliver aid, and to keep people safe.

He said that donations of funds for disaster relief are the best way to help.

“It’s going to be hard for physical donations to get to the island, because of the damage to infrastructure,” Lopez told RNS in an email. “Right now, the immediate needs are for clean water, food, tarps, and flashlights, since power and water are both down in many areas. Long-term, people are going to need help rebuilding their homes and replanting crops.”

Operation Blessing, an evangelical Christian group based in Virginia, plans to send experts in disaster relief to the region, along with water purification systems, solar powered lanterns and other supplies.

“As soon as it is safe to do so, our teams will deploy to deliver clean water, emergency supplies, and other critical aid to help families begin the recovery process,” said Diego Traverso, Operation Blessing’s senior director of global disaster response, in a statement.

The hurricane could have an effect on immigration policy in the United States. World Relief has called on the Trump administration to delay its plans to end temporary protective status for about 300,000 Haitians currently living in the U.S., given the hurricane and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Haiti.

“Particularly in light of the devastation that Hurricane Melissa is unleashing on a country already facing profound humanitarian crises, it would be inhumane to deport Haitians right now, and we urge the administration to refrain from terminating TPS for Haitians — and to consider granting it for Jamaicans currently present in the United States,” Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief, said in a statement.

(This story has been updated with more details from Catholic Relief Services and Send Relief.)