The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) said it stands ready to assist the impoverished country of Haiti which Hurricane Matthew pounded on Tuesday, leaving behind death and destruction.
CEO Dr Stephen Ramroop said by late evening yesterday, no request had been made to the ODPM for any assistance.
He noted that request for relief normally came through the Office of the Prime Minister and assured once the request was made the ODPM, which co-ordinates disaster relief nationally and in the region, stands ready to help.
He said such relief would take the form of humanitarian type activities and the provision of both relief supplies as well as human resources.
Matthew, a Category 4 hurricane, made landfall in Haiti’s southwestern coast early on Tuesday bringing heavy rains and sustained winds of 145 mph, the National Hurricane Centre said.
It is the region’s strongest hurricane in almost a decade to hit Haiti in 50 years, since Inez in 1966
As it headed to Cuba, Florida and Carolina, Matthew triggered mudslides and flash floods and did major damage to Haiti which has still not recovered from the January 12, 2010, 7.0 earthquake, which resulted in the death of some 230,000 people or from Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which left 75 dead. Many Haitians still live under tents in flood-prone areas.
Hurricane Matthew has claimed the lives of at least nine people over the past few days, including one in St Vincent and the Grenadines, one in Colombia, four in the Dominican Republic and three in Haiti,
Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency, told the Associated Press:
“It’s much too early to know how bad things are, but we do know there are a lot of houses that have been destroyed or damaged in the south.”