Patricia Green | Strapping roofs can’t be the solution

“… Close the window weh de wind cum from. Open de other side. Do de same when de eye turn …”. How many Jamaicans and Caribbean people have passed on this knowledge to successive generations during the hurricane season from June to November? Surprisingly, universities in North America are advising against this type of approach, calling it ‘folklore,’ suggesting that it should be discredited.

After the passage of Hurricane Melissa on October 28, all Jamaica is giving God thanks for sparing so many lives after seeing evidence of the devastation but with such a low death toll. Miraculous stories abound amid fallen utility poles, uprooted trees, overflowing rivers, mud slides that totally submerged entire houses, and two-storey concrete roof houses sliding down hillsides, taking sections of road with it. So many families have heroic stories of rescue and escape as their homes disintegrated around them, many taking refuge in motor cars that remained during the hurricane.

Hospitals, schools, police stations, courthouses, churches, hotels, banks, offices, modern multifamily apartments, double- and single-storey houses, fowl coops, and even lowly outdoor latrines all suffered roof and other damage. Many of these were the same buildings that were damaged when in July 2024, Category 4 Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Jamaica, traversing a similar path as Melissa. Repairs were made afterwards to those Beryl-damaged buildings. Why then have some of these same buildings been devastated again even after some benefited from free distribution of ‘hurricane-straps’?

First, wooden architecture traditionally has been hurricane resilient alongside masonry and reinforced concrete buildings. Substantial wood architecture is distinct from what I call ‘make-shift’ construction. All walls and roofing using plywood and untreated lumber are ‘make-shift.’ These form the favourite diet for chi-chi [termites] that eat away such construction, resulting in rapid deterioration. ‘Make-shift’ buildings crumble and collapse even without the force of any hurricane winds.

BULLET WOOD

Understand that Jamaica and Caribbean traditional wood architecture used “bullet-wood” and other local timbers that resisted chi-chi infestation. Additionally, historic architecture roof construction used carpentry and construction details, applying resilient properties that withstood hurricanes. Why, therefore, are the authorities bulldozing historic buildings in St Elizabeth that survived Hurricane Melissa, thereby destroying evidence of best practice architecture traditions that must be passed on to the new generation of designers and builders?

Historic records show that during the 1723 hurricane that hit Jamaica, the English, who captured the island from Spain in 1655, noticed that the buildings erected by the Spanish 67 years before they captured the island sustained very little or no damage. The Spanish had integrated architecture techniques that amalgamated Taino Indigenous and enslaved Africa people hurricane-resilience, creating new Jamaica architecture traditions. This knowledge included material use, window types, roof profiles, and significantly, natural environmental placement.

Second, all architecture should commence with respecting and positioning within the natural environment. Have the authorities made the connection between road networks being transformed into raging rivers and mudslides moving through urban and rural communities, with approvals being issued that disturb the geological balance? Landscape architects offer critical knowledge for this.

Late Chinese architect Kongjian Yu coined the concept of a ‘sponge city’ to “retain water, slow down water, embrace water”. I present here the notion that the entire island of Jamaica, as a small island developing state, functions as a single ‘sponge’. Therefore, the authorities must respect this when issuing development approvals. Would ignoring this vital interconnectivity that should have been taken into account prior to development approvals explain the intense devastation of the natural and built environment by Hurricane Melissa?

My desired career was to have become a geologist, and my first job was with the Water Resources Authority (WRA). It is an interesting gender story as to why I eventually became an architect. The WRA published National Water Resources Master Plan for Jamaica in 2022 contextualising water in the island’s geological formation. Jamaica comprises approximately 57 per cent aquifers - underground layers of water-bearing rock, sand, or gravel saturated with groundwater. Additionally, there is approximately 41 per cent aquicludes - saturated geological formations such as impermeable clay or shale acting as blocking to confine the aquifers and prevent water from moving freely through them.

SPONGE ISLAND

To appreciate why I am now adopting the ‘sponge island’ notion beyond its Chinese city-scale into the island-scale of Jamaica, I emphasise the importance of integrating the built and natural environment as an interconnected balance. If we place intense developments on the lagoons, which are natural water releases on coastal Kingston, St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, or St James, then where should water courses travel from developments on Jacks Hill, St Andrew, and other such areas? What, therefore, would be the natural pressure valves across the island?

Third, allow for climate-change adaptation. The World Weather Attribution suggests that the influence of climate change on tropical cyclones is more complex compared to other types of extreme weather events because these impacts are driven by both heavy rainfall and extreme winds.

The average rainfall in Jamaica in October is approximately 130 mm (5.1 inches). Now, add Category 5 Melissa dropping approximately 335 mm (13.1 inches) across two days, with wind speed of about 170mph. Should it be surprising if this ‘sponge-island’ begins to squeeze out mud across one community or another, raise water at Fern Gully in St Ann, Newmarket in St Elizabeth, Content in Manchester?

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management prepared Climate Risk Atlas of Coastal Hazards and Risk in Negril in 2015, integrating analyses from Category 3 Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded Gilbert in Jamaica with winds of 150mph but deposited higher rainfall than Melissa, being 700 mm (27.5 inches) during 10-14 September.

I call for scientific architecture evaluations distinguishing substantial versus ‘make-shift’ construction. Critically, to examine where architecture developments should be sited to minimize likely negative impact on Jamaica as ‘sponge island’. Jamaica’s development and architecture practice must scientifically integrate the built and natural environment for climate-change adaptation. Using both traditional and scientific knowledge, let us undertake appropriate post-hurricane evaluations to ensure that architecture and development in Jamaica build back resilient.

Patricia Green, PhD, a registered architect and conservationist, is an independent scholar and advocate for the built and natural environment. Send feedback to patgreen2008@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com.