Jamaican reggae artist Sean Paul has stated that the scale of the recovery effort needed in the wake of Hurricane Melissa is absolutely overwhelming.
The award-winning singer described the Category Five storm as "extremely frightening, especially for my young kids."
"That's the first time they witnessed trees dance like that and the wind move like that," he said. "They remain shocked still, and traumatized. And can you imagine the young ones who are in the epicentre of it? It feels like you're in the a bygone era."
Gusts of up to 185mph (295 km/h) resulted in at least 28 fatalities. The artist and his loved ones were in the city of Kingston, while areas further west suffered the most severe damage.
Personal Experience and Community Effects
He remarked: "It is really hard to endure. We were not impacted in Kingston very hard, but it was scary. And one wonders, at any minute now could there be, you know, some tree that falls and blows your roof off?"
"This occurred to friends of mine in Montego Bay. They've lost their whole roof, and they remain in the thick of it assisting people there, ensuring that supplies gets to and garments are delivered to [people]. Everybody's stuff is all covered in mud and it's hard to think about something positive at this time."
Paul has committed $50,000 (£38,000) to match donations to a local relief charity, and described the devastation as "a very mind-blowing situation."
"Following several days and days of communication and trying to assist in different ways, on Saturday I became overwhelmed," he said.
"It's just the amount of effort it takes, and the depression that starts to take hold, and then you have to pull yourself out of it because there's just so much to be done that we have not yet made a dent yet."
Widespread Challenges and Humanitarian Situation
He continued: "It is overwhelming. I myself took a drive to the country yesterday, the outskirts of St Mary, which was less affected as hard, but still impacted. They are without electricity yet, and a lot of people out there are unable to see the rest of what's happening, because once they get charge on their phone, they're just trying to contact loved ones to make sure that they're OK."
Many individuals "don't even know that people are assisting them, because often they're unable to see these footage of people assembling stuff to send out there," he said.
"And so little has been truly distributed... There's still impassable areas, pathways that are damaged."
"I just heard a story of fifteen infants that were under three months old, but they're resting in makeshift beds right now. So it's a heartbreaking situation, and we're trying to provide assistance out there as as best we can."
Fellow Artist Engages in Aid Efforts
Fellow Jamaican music star, Shaggy, has also been co-ordinating aid efforts on the island, bringing essentials to locals via small convoys.
Asked how he felt about what had happened, he expressed: "Heartbroken. I don't think I can unsee what I've seen... It's rough, there's a lot of assistance arriving."
"No one could really prepare for something like that."
"We got into the Black River area, which was struck really hard. All structures is leveled. It breaks my heart. I couldn't help but weep. These are my community."
He added: "I've never seen anything like this, it appears as if a bomb went off."
Future Initiatives for Support
Sean Paul said: "Shaggy has reached out to me, a acquaintance of mine in the business, and he is trying to organize a benefit event in December. It's a long term thing, so we prefer not to hold it next week where no one will know about it. It has to be later where we can publicize it."
