Cable: PM called Dean aid a 'drop in the bucket'

Prime Minister Bruce Golding - now in the United States for talks with senior officials of the Barack Obama administration - could perhaps raise the issue of what assistance Jamaica could expect from the US if mother nature releases its fury on the island during the current hurricane season.

According to a diplomatic cable from the US Embassy in Kingston, days after he was sworn in as prime minister, Golding made it clear that he was peeved with the US government's response to the suffering faced by Jamaicans.

The cable claimed Golding seemed to believe that the US was not as charitable to Jamaica as it could have been in the aftermath of Hurricane Dean, which damaged many sections of the island.

Dean brushed Jamaica on August 19, 2007, and left 19,000 homes seriously damaged, with a cost of US$57 million. Damage to schools and education buildings totalled US$9.9 million, while losses in the agricultural sector exceeded US$54 million.

Against that background, the country's new prime minister met with US Embassy officials less than a week after he was elected and reportedly described the early assistance from America as inadequate.

In the diplomatic cable, accessed by The Gleaner through WikiLeaks, US Embassy officials told Washington that Golding had labelled its contribution to the Hurricane Dean recovery effort as "a drop in the bucket".

The cable made it clear that Golding did not mince words when he met with then US Ambassador to Jamaica, Brenda LaGrange Johnson, on September 13.

not ungrateful

According to the cable, Golding told LaGrange Johnson that "while he did not want to sound ungrateful, the US government's assistance for recovery from Hurricane Dean was only a drop in the bucket relative to Jamaica's needs".

Golding reportedly told the US ambassador that his administration had been in touch with the European Union (EU), which was diverting €6 million for hurricane relief.

The cable said the prime minister stressed that his Government was keen to ensure that normality was restored to people's lives in the shortest possible time.

Characterising the recovery efforts as a priority, Golding revealed that he had completed an aerial inspection of Jamaica's south coast the previous day and was seriously concerned about widespread damage to houses, particularly in Clarendon.

The cable further reported that Golding told the US ambassador that many families had been separated and persons were staying with relatives or friends.

In his appeal, Golding reportedly referred to the country's "difficult fiscal position".

He stressed that his new administration was hard-pressed to provide adequate relief to families which had suffered severe loss.

The cable said LaGrange Johnson told Golding that the US Embassy had applied to the United States Agency for International Development for an additional US$2 million.

According to the cable, the ambassador noted that her predecessor, Sue Cobb, had established a hurricane relief fund for Jamaica.

Dean lashed Jamaica as a Category Four hurricane and left three persons dead. Damage was estimated at US$310 million.

The threat of Hurricane Dean had earlier forced a delay of the general election.