Ja: Jamaica bellies up to the bar again

JAMAICA will be providing drinking water along with medical and other relief supplies to flood-ravaged Haiti, Prime Minister P J Patterson said over the weekend.

In addition, Jamaica will be sending medical and technical personnel to assist with the flood relief efforts.

Jamaica flood relief effort is being spearheaded by the Office of the Prime Minister, with the assistance of the foreign, security and health ministries, and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management.

The Port Authority will ship the medical supplies and drinking water.

From this, it appears that Caricom's response to the Haiti-Dominican Republic crisis will not be a well-coordinated and regional one, but will be highly individualistic with the likelihood of aid duplication.

While I laud Jamaica's consistent generosity towards its Caricom sister, I can't help wishing that Caricom would get its act together and have a strategy in place to respond to catastophes such as these.