The church was close behind, helping to pick up the pieces and provide for people suffering.
Jamaica had never seen anything like this before. Jason Cox of Send Relief, the Southern Baptist disaster recovery ministry, is on his way to look at the damage and see how the agency can help.
“We were working, coordinating with Jamaican Baptist Union leaders pretty soon after we hit the ground.”
Melissa came ashore as a Category 5 with maximum sustained winds of 185 miles an hour, according to AccuWeather and The Weather Channel.
Over the weekend, the death toll had neared 50 in Jamaica and Haiti.
Send Relief will be working in Cuba as well.
“It weakened a little bit before it hit Cuba, but I mean, the impact is still devastating on Cuba,” Cox said.
Multiple international and local relief agencies were quickly active in Jamaica, which was the first stop on Melissa’s devastation tour.
In the short term, volunteers set up shelters for temporary housing, supported search-and-rescue efforts and helped provide medical care as well as distributing essentials like food, clean water, hygiene kits and baby-care products.
Much of the work soon shifted from relief and recovery to rebuilding.
For Send Relief, Cox says the job in both countries is to stand alongside the local church and leverage local resources first, then provide what is missing next.
“Whenever possible, we want to support local economy and source things locally. So, if we can't get things locally, then we definitely can ship things in.”
You can keep up with the Southern Baptist recovery efforts at SendRelief.org/Melissa.
“We really need the church and the states to give some sustained attention to this disaster. And we ask people to pray. We pray for those who are suffering.”
