Following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Melissa on Jamaica last week, reggae icon Sean Paul has described the scale of recovery efforts as “overwhelming.”
The Grammy Award-winning artist recounted the category five storm as “very frightening, especially for my young kids.”
Speaking with BBC News, Paul stated, “That’s the first time they’ve seen trees dance like that and the wind move like that. They’re in shock still, and traumatised. And can you imagine the children who are in the epicentre of it? It feels like you’re in the Middle Ages.”
With winds reaching 185mph (295 km/h), the storm resulted in at least 28 fatalities. While Paul and his family were situated in Kingston, the western regions of the island bore the brunt of the damage.
“It is really difficult to bear,” the musician expressed. “We weren’t hit in Kingston very hard, but it was frightening. And you’re wondering, at any minute now is there going to be, you know, some tree that comes along and slaps your roof off?”
He continued, “That happened to friends of mine in Montego Bay. They’ve lost their whole roof, and they’re still in the trenches helping people there, making sure that food reaches and clothes reach [people]. Everybody’s stuff is all muddied up and it’s hard to think about something positive at this time.”
Paul has committed $50,000 (£38,000) to match donations made to Food For The Poor Jamaica, characterizing the destruction as “a very mind-blowing situation.”
“After days and days of communication and trying to help out in different ways, on Saturday I broke down,” he confessed.
“It’s just the amount of energy it takes, and the depression that starts to set in, and then you have to shake yourself out of it because there’s just so much to be done that we haven’t even tipped the iceberg yet.”
He elaborated, “It is overwhelming. I myself took a drive to the country yesterday, the countryside of St Mary, which was not hit as hard, but still hit. They don’t have light yet, and a lot of people out there can’t even see the rest of what’s happening, because once they get charge on their phone, they’re just trying to call loved ones to make sure that they’re OK.”
According to Paul, some individuals “don’t even know that people are helping them, because a lot of the time they’re not able to see these videos of people preparing stuff to send out there.”
He added, “And so little has been actually distributed… There’s still blocked areas, roads that are damaged.”
“I just heard a story of 15 babies that were under three months old, but they’re sleeping in cardboard boxes right now. So it’s a terrible situation, and we’re trying to get help out there as much as possible.”
Fellow Jamaican music luminary, Shaggy, has similarly been spearheading relief efforts on the island, delivering essential supplies to communities via small convoys.
Asked about his reaction to the disaster, Shaggy responded, “Devastated. I don’t think I can unsee what I’ve seen… It’s rough, there’s a lot of aid coming in.”
He continued, “Nobody could really prepare for something like that.”
“We got into the Black River area, which was hit really hard. Everything is flattened. It breaks my heart. I couldn’t help but weep. These are my people.”
He concluded, “I’ve never seen anything like this, it looks like a bomb exploded.”
Sean Paul mentioned that Shaggy “has reached out to me, a friend of mine in the business, and he is trying to hold a concert in December. It’s a long term thing, so we don’t want to hold it next week where no one will know about it. It has to be down the road where we can promote it.”
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