Hurricane Melissa claims at least 75 lives, impacts nearly 5 mln people in Caribbean

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Hurricane Melissa has claimed at least 75 lives and impacted nearly 5 million people in Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica, one week after landfall in the Caribbean, a UN spokesperson said Friday.

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, said in a daily briefing that the hurricane has also displaced more than 770,000 people and damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes, schools and healthcare facilities.

"We and our partners continue to support authorities across all three countries," he said.

In Jamaica, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has deployed additional staff to help the government with humanitarian issues and strengthen operations, Haq said.

The spokesperson said that in Cuba, the Food and Agriculture Organization has delivered agricultural tools, livestock feed and fishing supplies to help restore livelihoods, and the World Food Programme has deployed mobile warehouses, lighting towers and tents to the eastern provinces.

Different UN agencies are working in the region, with the Population Fund distributing reproductive health kits and working with partners to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, the Development Programme providing roofing materials, toolkits and generators to aid the early recovery process, and the Children's Fund delivering water storage and treatment supplies that will benefit up to 16,000 people daily, according to Haq. ■