Mark Wignall | Long-term pain

With little pretence, he said, over furrowed brows and 60 years on his clock, “As time passes it becomes crystal clear that Melissa caused more death, destruction, turmoil, and mayhem than one could imagine. So far, over 30 Jamaicans have perished. Jamaica and Jamaicans will suffer for a long time due to the monster Melissa. I know relief is pouring in and it is good to see the amount of goodwill that people and countries have towards Jamaica and its people.

“I did not suffer in any way due to Monster Melissa, but I am emotionally very unsettled by her destruction. I find it hard to concentrate at work. I find it hard not to think about my fellow Jamaicans all the time. I feel empty, I feel sad, I feel discouraged. Will next hurricane season birth another Monster Melissa?”

He has a big house, slab roof, hurricaneproof windows and, best of all, he is free from mental anguish as hurricanes approach. Granted he lives in the St Andrew hills and escaped impact by Melissa’s eyewall. And yet he feels as if he is living inside the anguish felt by those at ground zero in the west.

For those who lived through the middle of the maelstrom, it is obviously much worse. There is no escaping the fact that children and younger adolescents whose experience with Melissa’s wrath was bone-chilling frightening, will be mentally burdened for many years.

Candy, 41, a teacher, relates this to me. About a relative’s long nightmare with Melissa.

“The worst of it all is the anguish they describe during the passage of the storm and the haunted look she saw on her nieces’ and nephews’ face.

As the violence of nature wreaked havoc on them “... they became so traumatised by the winds and trying to stay near the adults as they tried to hold back doors. As the zinc roof and rafter frame was violently ripped off, in that moment a screaming nightmare came to them. At that point, they thought the winds would take them away, especially their children.”

Surely, the children, just on their own, will never be able to process that extreme level of mental anguish for too long. Unfortunately, resources in the Ministry of Health and Wellness will not be enough to attend to the mental health of all of those affected. Many will be sidestepped by the usual weight of physical trauma cases (knife wounds, shootings, car accidents etc) that show up in long lines outside of government health facilities, 24/7..

At some stage, parts of the recovery from Melissa will become a numbers game as the authorities, with the best of intentions, wilt under the pressure. Many will feel as if they are doomed to stand at the back of the line for too long.

WRONG FOCUS

I have seen many videos by the JCF, JDF, OPM, MPs, the relief organisations, and private individuals about the response. Many Jamaicans in the affected areas do not have electricity, or cell phones that work, as their cell phone batteries no longer have power. Thus, these videos could be a waste of time, and I hope that we can relax on the PR. That’s the situation as of November 5.

Both the JLP and PNP have tribalistic tendencies. The aftermath of Melissa presents the perfect time to park those tendencies. They must be extinguished immediately. Comrades and Labourites need to work side by side and together. And again, the symbolism of Holness and Golding arm-in-arm cannot be overstated..

In 1988 after the passage of Category 4 Hurricane Gilbert, one of its noted features was its ‘skill’ in flattening all light posts. As far as the eyes could see, it seemed that just about every JPS light pole was blown down, along with miles of distribution lines. And yet, by Christmas, Jamaica had its light and power back in place.

To a relatively larger extent than now, the Americans were immediately in Jamaica in large numbers. It was the period of the Cold War (1947-1991) and President Ronald Reagan was in the 1980s, political godfather to (JLP) Prime Minister Eddie Seaga. Reagan, a Republican, saw Seaga as the Caribbean’s conservative foil to the spread of Fidel Castro’s communism and USSR’s (Russia) influence in the Western waters. At that time, on a per capita basis, only Israel was receiving more US assistance than Jamaica.

So Florida Power and Light, the US electric utility company, was immediately in Jamaica and they hit the ground running. Hence, light by Christmas.

OLD NAILS AND BROKEN BITS

Her house, on a gentle incline somewhere in St Elizabeth – two bedrooms, living room, bathroom and kitchen, slab roof– stood out almost like a mockery. All the other houses nearby were either without roofs or they were blown down or blown away. It is about six days now that 40 people are sleeping there. On cardboard, sponges, old clothes and the foul stench of stillness. No one complains.

At daybreak, they go out - to seek water, food, anything. In general there is no shelter, no food, regular toilet facilities. Mosquitoes biting, dengue fever a potential danger. There are dead bodies of fellow human beings, dead animals, roads blocked, no cell phone service or the cell phone cannot work because they have no battery power, injured people, who cannot get the help they need. And,traumatised children.

We really do not need to test the patience of desperate, unhoused poor people whose lives have been totally upended. Who must they turn to? The government, of course. And, the government knows that.

A reader states, “The relief effort must be on such a grand scale that I do not think the government has grasped that yet. I say this not to criticise, but as an observation. Early efforts at governmental assistance are good but, in reality, the ‘good enough’ phase is miles away.”

Government has a special duty to ensure that the first wave of assessors for grants do not set up special facilities to enhance corruption akin to the massive zinc scandal that followed the passage of Gilbert in 1988 where free (welfare) zinc was expropriated by criminal dons and sold to poor people and corrupt building contractors.

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com