RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

A call for aid to hur­ri­cane-rav­aged Ja­maica has been met with mixed re­spons­es, as anx­i­ety over pos­si­ble war has damp­ened some of­fers of sup­port, leav­ing the San Fer­nan­do City Cor­po­ra­tion strug­gling to col­lect do­na­tions while a steady stream of con­trib­u­tors gath­ered at the Pe­nal/Debe Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion yes­ter­day.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia, San Fer­nan­do May­or Robert Par­ris ap­pealed to cit­i­zens to as­sist Ja­maica fol­low­ing the re­cent pas­sage of Hur­ri­cane Melis­sa, de­spite on­go­ing re­gion­al ten­sion.

Par­ris said the San Fer­nan­do City Cor­po­ra­tion be­gan its col­lec­tion dri­ve af­ter dis­cus­sions with the Min­is­ter of Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment ear­li­er this week. He con­firmed that Skin­ner Park has been des­ig­nat­ed as a cen­tral dis­tri­b­u­tion point for do­na­tions.

The park pro­vides suf­fi­cient space for the pub­lic to drop off con­tri­bu­tions, but Par­ris said do­na­tions were few.

He called on cit­i­zens to con­tribute, ac­knowl­edg­ing that sup­port has been slow­er than in pre­vi­ous re­lief ef­forts for oth­er Caribbean na­tions.

“This is the first time I have sensed hes­i­ta­tion from the pub­lic,” he said. “In the past, when we as­sist­ed Haiti, Grena­da, and Ja­maica, peo­ple gave read­i­ly. The cur­rent eco­nom­ic con­di­tions and un­cer­tain­ty about re­gion­al sta­bil­i­ty may be af­fect­ing the re­sponse.”

The May­or ref­er­enced re­ports of in­creased pub­lic con­cern over re­cent de­vel­op­ments in the re­gion, in­clud­ing ten­sion in­volv­ing Venezuela and the pres­ence of mil­i­tary ves­sels near Trinidad and To­ba­go. He said many res­i­dents ap­pear to be pur­chas­ing and stor­ing sup­plies for per­son­al use.

“Peo­ple are buy­ing large quan­ti­ties of wa­ter and gro­ceries,” Par­ris said. “There is a sense of un­cer­tain­ty. Cit­i­zens are be­ing cau­tious.”

He urged cit­i­zens who are able to con­tribute to con­tin­ue as­sist­ing Ja­maica while re­main­ing mind­ful of their own se­cu­ri­ty.

“If you have the means, give to Ja­maica,” Par­ris said. “At the same time, we must en­sure the safe­ty of our fam­i­lies and our coun­try.”

While the San Fer­nan­do City Cor­po­ra­tion re­port­ed a slow­er re­sponse, there was a steady flow of donors at the Pe­nal/Debe Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion (PDRC) yes­ter­day.

PDRC chair­man Gow­tam Ma­haraj said the ini­tia­tive was launched in re­sponse to a na­tion­al call made by Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar.

“This ini­tia­tive has been prompt­ed and in­struct­ed by the Ho­n­ourable Prime Min­is­ter un­der the ban­ner of care and sup­port,” Ma­haraj said. “It took off im­me­di­ate­ly in the Pe­nal/Debe re­gion be­cause our peo­ple be­lieve in help­ing oth­ers.”

He said res­i­dents have been bring­ing a range of sup­plies, in­clud­ing clean­ing items, toi­letries, and bot­tled wa­ter.

“There are trucks com­ing in to load sup­plies for ship­ment to Ja­maica,” Ma­haraj said. “We have no cut-off time yet. Do­na­tions will con­tin­ue as long as peo­ple keep bring­ing them in.”

Ma­haraj said mem­bers of the pub­lic can con­tact the cor­po­ra­tion at 647-0685 or drop off items at the head of­fice at 218 SS Erin Road, or at any coun­cil of­fice in the re­gion.

He added that sev­er­al com­mu­ni­ty groups, in­clud­ing the Pe­nal/Debe Foun­da­tion, are al­so col­lect­ing items and de­liv­er­ing them to the PDRC.

Ma­haraj said that sup­port has al­so come from in­di­vid­u­als liv­ing abroad.

Among those con­tribut­ing to the dri­ve was Faizal Ho­sein, of Ho­sein’s Con­struc­tion Lim­it­ed, who said there must be shared re­spon­si­bil­i­ty among Caribbean neigh­bours.

“It’s Ja­maica; they are our neigh­bours and our fam­i­ly,” he said. “Peo­ple are suf­fer­ing, and it’s im­por­tant to help those who re­al­ly need the as­sis­tance at this time,” he added.