Displaced Rocky Point residents making most of shelter

For almost three weeks, Althea Brown and her husband, Ivan, have been taking turns sleeping on a cot in what serves as her office at the hurricane shelter in Rocky Point, Clarendon.

She is the manager of the facility, but like many residents in the community, she, too, has been displaced after Hurricane Beryl caused extensive damage to her home.

The Category 4 storm battered Jamaica on July 3, totally destroying some 321 homes, 133 of which were in the parish of Clarendon, preliminary assessments have revealed. Another 617 houses in the parish were severely damaged, while 493 received minor damage from the monster system.

Brown, who was making lunch arrangements for the 31 residents at the shelter last Thursday afternoon, told The Gleaner that an entire wall of her house collapsed on the night of the storm causing major damage to her furniture and appliances.

Even more heartbreaking, she revealed, was that her family home was also looted, and thieves went away with her stove and gas cylinder.

But even as she ponders rebuilding, Brown said that for now, she is more focused on helping the other displaced residents in need.

“Word on the ground and around is that is the longest shelter ever open since a hurricane, but in truth and in fact, some persons don’t have nowhere to go because they’re totally destroyed, house mash up; others might need a few little zinc and so to put back things together,” Brown said.

Initially, there were 45 residents from Rocky Point and neighbouring communities staying at the shelter. That number has since fallen to 31 and includes 11 children.

Fortunately, Brown said there are enough resources such as food and bedding to go around. She said residents are fed a hot meal daily by World Central Kitchen – an international non-profit organisation (NGO) that provides food relief. The organisation also provided the facility with a generator for electricity, and the residents take turns cleaning and refilling containers with water.

Other NGOs, such as Food For The Poor and the Red Cross, have also assisted the residents with resources.

Although she admits that managing the facility can be “stressful and hectic”, Brown told The Gleaner that operations have been smooth so far, with each resident playing their part to make their temporary home as comfortable as possible.

Among them is Ezekiel Johnson, who helps her to cook breakfast every morning. The 53-year-old’s four-bedroom house lost all its roofing during the hurricane, forcing him to seek refuge at the Rocky Point shelter.

Johnson is yet to start building, as his livelihood of making fishpots has been on hold. And although he admitted that his current living conditions are not ideal, he is happy to have a place to stay.

“It nuh too bad, but wi haffi put wiself together and mek wiself happy, but some people nuh good, some cuss and mek trouble, but mi a quiet man,” he said.

FRIGHTENING EXPERIENCE

Fifty-seven-year-old plumber Curtis Ford had a frightening experience during the storm, when he watched his roof being blown off just over two weeks ago.

“I couldn’t do anything about it,” he told The Gleaner.

The next day, he ensured that he made his way to the shelter.

“Dem treat us good. No problem. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Dem make sure dat you comfortable, and at nighttime, everybody just corporate and do weh dem haffi do, but, you know, nowhere is like home,” said Ford.

Contemplating how he will manage to rebuild his house, he recognised that he cannot accomplish it without help.

“All I need is some two-by-four and some [plywood] because I did pick up about 12 sheet of my zinc. But because I am not working right now, it’s kinda unaffordable to buy the ply dem and dem ting deh,” he said.

Kedian Wint lived in a one-room zinc structure with her partner and four children. Cognisant of the vulnerability of such a dwelling in a hurricane, the 34-year-old sought shelter before Beryl’s onslaught.

She sent her children to stay with relatives whose house was deemed safer, and she and her partner sought refuge at the community centre.

“My experience at the shelter isn’t bad. We have a lot of fun, make friends, we talk, we laugh, eat food, wi sing, whole heap of activities and those things,” she told The Gleaner.

But sharing that she and her partner are repairing their home, Wint expressed sorrow over being looted and appealed for assistance to replace her furniture.

“I can go home now, but I really need the help to get my things working so mi kids dem can come back because I have to make my kids dem stay wid dem grandmother,” she said.

Although she has already made some repairs to her home, which was flooded during the hurricane, 58-year-old Charmaine Blair Ashley, who is diabetic, still does not believe it is safe enough for her to return. Explaining that she lives alone and there is no electricity, she disclosed that she feels much safer at the shelter.

“It is very good; the place is very nice. I like how they take care of us, [and the] unity and cooperation of the fellow people there,” she said.

Alashia Powell and her two teenage children sought shelter at the facility because her one-room house had flooded. The single mother said she was grateful to have a place to run to.

“Sometimes we feel a little bit frustrated because we used to our home, but this is what it is now, so we have to just cope with everything little thing wa a gwaan and just think positive,” she said.

“[We have to] hope for the best because wi know wi a go bounce back, but it a go take a little time,” she added.

But 59-year-old Patsy Elvie is not very optimistic about recovering any time soon.

Her house in Rocky Point settlement was completely destroyed, and she is anxious about how she will survive when the shelter closes.

“Mi nuh have nowhere to go right now. Mi nuh have no family house fi go, mi nuh have noweh fi go. Right now, mi just lie down a think weh mi a guh go and mi eye dem a get water,” she said, adding that she is the caretaker for a two-year-old.

Meanwhile, Norval Gayle, chairman of the Disaster Risk Management Response and Recovery Committee for Rocky Point, said that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security is currently coordinating how best they can assist the displaced residents.

He noted, too, that members of the Jamaica Defence Force are in the community and will be helping with repairs.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com