WOODEN WORRIES, LAND TITLE TROUBLES

In a journey that wound from New Market in St Elizabeth, through Beaufort, Darliston, Wihthorn, Petersfield, Williamsfield, Shrewsbury, Bluefields, and Petersville in Westmoreland, the devastation left in Hurricane Melissa’s wake was impossible to ignore.

Raised concrete floors – some adorned with porcelain tiles, others polished red beneath layers of dried mud and debris – stood as stark reminders of homes once whole. Surrounding them, wooden walls lay splintered, zinc roofs torn to shreds, and furniture, appliances, and household goods scattered by the Category 5 storm’s unrelenting winds when it swept through Jamaica on October 28.

For some, the scale of destruction was no surprise given the structure of housing in the region.

According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) 2011 Population and Housing Census, over two-thirds of all dwellings in Westmoreland – approximately 32,118 units—are constructed from wood alone or a combination of wood and concrete. This represents one of the highest concentrations of wood-based housing in the country, surpassed proportionally only by Hanover.

Nationwide, approximately 70 per cent of the 711,331 homes counted in 2011 were made of concrete and blocks, while wood was used in approximately 26 per cent of dwellings. In Hanover, 13,176 of 21,709 units (60 per cent) were predominantly wooden. St James and Trelawny recorded similar proportions at 32.67 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively, while St Elizabeth registered 14.31 per cent.

The 2022 Population & Housing Census reported Jamaica’s population at 2,774,538, a 2.8 per cent increase from 2011. STATIN has not yet released detailed data on housing materials.

Western parishes were among the hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa. The storm caused severe damage to both wooden and concrete buildings, with roofs removed from some concrete structures and certain buildings collapsing under winds of 185 miles per hour.

To date, approximately 960,000 buildings have been assessed. Commander Alvin Gayle, Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), reported that about 191,000 structures sustained damage ranging from minor to severe. Of these, 146,000 buildings experienced major to severe structural damage, including extensive roof or wall loss and, in some instances, total collapse. Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, St James, and Hanover recorded the highest concentrations of damage.

“It is estimated that approximately 90,000 households and 360,000 individuals were directly affected,” Gayle said.

Custos of Westmoreland, The Reverend Hartley Perrin, highlighted land tenure as a key factor in the prevalence of wooden homes. He explained that the parish remains among the few where wooden homes can be seen transported by trucks and tractors.

“Rent a ‘house spot’”

“...You have to pick up your house and move because the owner of the land says that you have to. So people find somewhere else, and rent a ‘house spot’ and put their house on that spot,” Perrin said.

“You can’t put a concrete structure because the spot is not yours. It’s either owned by the government or by a private person,” he said, adding that land ownership in the parish continues to be a major issue.

“We are a product of the sugar belt, and the sugar workers never really received any proper compensation for their labour, and they never really got lands. They were relegated to the fringes,” continued Perrin, explaining why, over the decades, highly populated areas such as ‘Russia’ and ‘Gully Bank’ in Westmoreland’s capital, Savanna-la-Mar, are strewn with wooden dwellings.

According to a 2022 Caribbean Development Bank publication, Savanna-la-Mar’s population is estimated at 13,930, across 3,980 households with an average household size of 3.5 persons. Of the houses, 57.5 per cent were primarily board constructions, while 29.9 per cent were made of blocks. Eighty-six per cent of household heads owned their homes, but only 23.9 per cent owned the land.

Residents cited additional factors for wooden housing. “Some people believe the board house dem more cooler,” said Otis Tennent, a resident of Retirement district, where hundreds of wooden houses were destroyed by the storm.

Retirement, according to the 2022 census, has 1,181 residents and 376 dwellings.

Rebuilding efforts are under way as residents search for construction materials. Amid the debris, the sound of hammers could be heard throughout the community, reflecting both the urgency of their situation and their determination to rebuild.

“We have food, God bless us with food, and we are thankful for it. But now we just need some material to build back,” offered Marcia Clarke, who, along with Donna Moodie and Carvolyn Finlayson, all residents of the Retirement district, held placards asking motorists passing along the Bluefields main road for help.

Except for Moodie, whose concrete home was damaged, the women were homeless, their wooden structures flattened by the hurricane’s strong winds.

“The houses, everything for me mash up. I have a little shop and that mash-up too. So, more than anything, we need some building materials,” stressed Clarke, explaining how she has had to stay at relatives’ homes post-hurricane.

“Many people don’t own the land; a lot of people you see here lease it. So we can’t really put up anything on it. Besides, money is the other issue. We don’t have any jobs, work hard to get in Westmoreland, so we can’t afford to build anything,” said Clarke.

Two of the three bedrooms in Suzettea Williams’ home in Retirement were destroyed by the hurricane. For the past two weeks, she and eight children have shared two sleeping areas in the small house. It rained heavily in the community last week, so the small, leaking dwelling was uncomfortable even in the daytime.

Material is our

biggest problem

“Material is our biggest problem now. I need some building material,” she noted, as her neighbour, Tennent, milled about looking for pieces of board and usable zinc sheets to mend his damaged home.

“It’s easier to pay a man to nail up some boards than it is to pay a man to lay some block,” he chipped into the discussion.

Unlike most of her neighbours, Williams claims she has a title for her land and thus, before the storm, had started to build a concrete structure to the rear of the broken-down premises. She begged for assistance to complete the house

“I want to move out because even if this house wasn’t destroyed, it is too small. We are trying to have some privacy because, as they grow older, you don’t really want the boys and girls sleeping together,” she said, emphasising the family’s uncomfortable sleeping arrangement since the passage of the hurricane.

Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Eastern, Dr Dayton Campbell, told this newspaper that an estimated 5,000 houses were destroyed in the constituency.

“I mean they are flat. Destroyed!,” the MP said. “These are separate from the others without roofs that are severely or moderately damaged,” he said.

Campbell has been pushing for temporary tents to be erected at specific areas outfitted with bathroom facilities to offer immediate relief.

The MP highlighted land ownership as a critical factor. He noted that one of the People’s National Party’s (PNP) election proposals in the recently contested general election, which it lost, was for the reduction of the time for adverse possession claims on government lands from 60 to 25 years. He said the proposal was intended to address this challenge.

“It is something that we need to sort out ... I think this presents an opportunity for us to do some of those things,” Campbell said.

“With this opportunity to rebuild, I don’t think we should go back to the same structures because the same risks, adverse weather events are there. We are going to get the same results from other systems. We need to build more climate-resilient structures, and I think we have to start by dealing with the issue of land tenure for persons,” he said.

Constructing hurricane-resistant homes

Since the passage of Hurricane Melissa, the conversation around constructing hurricane-resistant homes has gained urgency, with many experts and homeseekers on the hunt for durable, yet affordable solutions. Among the options gaining attention are container houses, built from re-purposed shipping containers. These metal structures are lauded for their resilience against high winds and flooding, offering a sturdier alternative to traditional wooden homes, which are more vulnerable to storm damage.

However, civil engineer and land developer, Christopher Burgess, scoffed at the container home idea, pointing to the damage Hurricane Melissa did to shipping containers in western Jamaica.

“The container homes are not sustainable, and that is just building vulnerability into our people. Container homes are unlikely to resist a hurricane,” said Burgess, managing director of CEAC Outsourcing.

He said the government must either speedily address the land tenure issue in parishes such as Westmoreland, which is preferable, or erect concrete structures that can withstand natural disasters.

“The government just needs to give them a concrete structure, block and steel, and sort out the land tenure issue,” he said.

He listed a starter pack of materials for a one-bedroom unit, noting that while the government would provide the bulk of the supplies, it would be the purview of the owners to complete them.

“The windows, tiles and doors, they have to sort that out themselves,” he said.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com

Disaster rebuilding starter pack according to Christopher Burgess

One-bedroom with bathroom, a kitchenette, and small living quarters (420 square feet).

Estimated cost: J$ 2 million.

1,200 blocks

5 tonnes of steel (decking)

50 yards of sand

50 yards of gravel

300 bags of cement

* Windows, tiles, and doors provided by residents