The UAE has joined forces with emergency authorities in the Caribbean to deliver critical aid to communities in Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba bearing the brunt of the deadly Hurricane Melissa.
Its death toll is approaching 50 after the hurricane left a trail of destruction across large parts of the region, flattening homes and leaving many people without access to water and electricity.
The UAE Aid Agency had dispatched essential food items and shelter materials to provide a lifeline to those affected, in co-ordination with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency.
This relief operation will also focus on repairing damaged infrastructure in an effort to speed up recovery efforts.
Dr Tareq Ahmed Al Ameri, chairman of the UAE Aid Agency, said the Emirates was committed to offering key assistance in emergency and disaster situations.
He said the UAE Aid Agency was providing essential relief supplies to mitigate the impact of the hurricane on people in Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba.
Melissa did not directly hit Haiti, but caused at least 25 deaths there, authorities said, mostly in the southern town of Petit Goave when a river burst its banks after days of torrential rain.
Melissa was the first major hurricane since 1988 to directly hit Jamaica, where authorities reported at least four deaths in the south-western region site of the hurricane's landfall as a powerful Category 5 storm. Wind speeds were well above the minimum level for the strongest hurricane classification.
US forecaster AccuWeather said Melissa was the third most intense hurricane observed in the Caribbean, as well as its slowest moving − compounding damages for affected areas.
Satellite imagery showed trees and homes devastated in the hardest-hit areas of Jamaica, sparse remaining greenery defoliated and most structures destroyed.
Tropical storm conditions were also observed in Bermuda late on Thursday and a hurricane warning was issued for the island, with maximum sustained winds of 160kph, the NHC said.
The government urged residents to take precautionary measures against the still-powerful storm.
