PUBLICATION: Toronto Star DATE: 2011.08.11 BYLINE: Allan Woods

Military to aid Jamaica during storms

Canada is sending military helicopters and dozens of personnel to assist Jamaican authorities through the island's hurricane season this summer and fall.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced the assistance package Wednesday at CFB Trenton. It will include three Griffon helicopters and 65 Canadian Forces members to conduct search-and-rescue activities through to November.

More than a dozen tropical storms have been forecast to hit the Caribbean nation over the coming months and Jamaica's Office of Disaster Management and Emergency Preparedness has cautioned that people living in flood-prone areas and along the coast are particularly vulnerable. Floods and landslides are always a threat, as are rough waters that can cast sailors and fishermen adrift.

The Jamaican Defence Force, the country's military, does not have the ability to carry out search-and-rescue functions or medical evacuations. The Griffons have a crew of three and can carry up to 10 passengers or six stretchers.

The assistance follows $2.1 million in funding from the Canadian International Development Agency for a three-day disaster simulation exercise that involved the Jamaican health minister, the police, military and other local agencies.

In August 2007, Hurricane Dean hit the south coast of Jamaica and sent locals heading for higher ground as vicious winds ripped roofs off of houses and torrents of rain wiped out roads.

In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan, a Category 5 storm, left 18,000 people homeless and killed more than a dozen. The worst recorded storm to hit Jamaica dropped almost a metre of rain in some places and blew in furious winds of 180 km/h.

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