Jamaican Government Withholds Names of Hurricane Melissa’s Dead and Missing, Raising Doubts About Official Toll
The Jamaican government has announced it won’t be publishing the names of the missing or the dead from Hurricane Melissa.
At a Nov. 26 press briefing, the head of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Commander Alvin Gayle, was asked by 18º North why is it that the police can routinely publish the names of Jamaicans who go missing, but, in the case of those who went missing after the storm, the government has chosen not to release the names?
Gayle answered that for both the missing and the dead, “The police and the families are treating with those names as per their own protocols. So, we will not be publishing these names.”
However, he didn’t say what those protocols were and why he wouldn’t be releasing the names. The Jamaica Constabulary Force wouldn’t comment.
