Elizabeth Morgan | Jamaica and natural disasters – preparation should be high priority

AT THE time of writing, we are still waiting for Hurricane Melissa, now category 5, which could be the most powerful hurricane ever experienced in Jamaica since records have been kept. As many of us may know, waiting and uncertainty can be mentally challenging. Melissa formed as a tropical storm in the Caribbean around October 21 - about seven days ago. It has meandered very slowly south-west in the direction of Jamaica and has kept us all guessing about its direction and actual site of landfall. By the date of publication, our fate will be known.

At category 5 with winds at the eye wall at over 175 miles per hour and levels of rain at 42 inches, it is mind-boggling! Hurricane Gilbert was an unforgettable experience and was more than one could imagine. So, what does Melissa hold? The hope and continuous prayer is that she will change her mind and take a different path, hopefully, out to sea. None of us in the Caribbean Basin should experience the full brunt of a Melissa at this time. Remember, too, that Jamaica and others are still recovering from Hurricane Beryl of July 2024, at category 4. A very early and powerful hurricane.

Not only should we prepare every year from June to November for hurricanes, but we must also be prepared for unpredictable earthquakes. The earthquake of Monday, October 30, 2023, shook many of us to the core, being the strongest ever felt in living memory - perhaps, the strongest in Kingston and St Andrew since 1907. It may be recalled that there was an earthquake of magnitude 5.5 on November 12, 1988, two months after the trauma of Hurricane Gilbert. In fact, it was just reported that there was a major earthquake in the Eastern Caribbean (Monday, October 27).

So Jamaica and other countries in the Caribbean basin are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters as countries can also experience volcanic eruptions as has happened in Montserrat (1995) and in St Vincent and the Grenadines (2021).

CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change is real in spite of the denial of others. We have been experiencing it here in the Caribbean, seeing, in more recent years, some extremely powerful hurricanes. It only takes a direct hit from one to completely destroy island economies and set us back for many years.

From climate change, we are also seeing sea-level rise, an overgrowth of sargassum weed, and extremely high temperatures.

At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil in November, CARICOM countries, with other Small Island Developing States, have to continue to unite with those calling for urgent action to address climate-change mitigation and financing.

INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE IN JAMAICA

On August 6, Independence Day, this column addressed the tragedy of Kingston, Jamaica’s capital city. Jamaica has a serious problem with maintenance of structures not just in Kingston but right across the country in the public and private sectors.

Public infrastructure, roads, gullies, bridges, buildings, and others are mainly in a dreadfully dilapidated state. Private homes and commercial buildings are not as well maintained as they could be. Everything is put off until later. If they can get away with it, people will cut corners in the construction of buildings.

It was as though we forgot our vulnerability to natural disasters, the impact of climate change, and the fact that we had an encounter with Hurricane Beryl last year. It seems that with Melissa strolling leisurely towards Jamaica and strengthening to the frightening category 5 that that was when action was being taken to clean gullies, fix roofs, etc.

Maintenance, public and private, should be a high priority and must be an annual undertaking. This should also include our historic buildings, our national heritage.

Structures now must be built to withstand hurricanes of category 5 and earthquakes of at least magnitude 7. We also need to look at what happens in cases of extreme flooding. How do people get out of their homes, which have burglar bars and other security measures, impeding escape? There is also the matter of theft and wanton destruction of valuable and necessary equipment and materials.

PANIC BUYING

Supermarket and hardware owners must be very happy when a hurricane watch is announced. People rush these enterprises to buy out everything on the shelves. This kind of panic spending cannot be in consumers’ interests. Prepare for natural disasters! Have on hand a supply of necessary items, some dry and canned food stuffs, lamps, transistor radio, batteries, medicines, etc. Then consumers do not have to panic-buy. The disaster may not occur, may not be as catastrophic, and there is no doubt that the stores will reopen in a very short time and will be restocked.

Let us make it a national and personal priority to properly prepare for natural disasters.

We should not be caught off guard unless it cannot be helped. Let us always be prepared be our motto.

Elizabeth Morgan is a specialist in international trade policy and international politics. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.