A Friend in Need: Always the Generous Host, Jamaica Needs Our Help Now

Jamaica touched my heart the first time I visited in 1988, just weeks after the island took a direct hit from Hurricane Gilbert.

On the Air Jamaica flight from Toronto, I travelled with migrant farm workers – apple pickers who had spent the past few months north of Collingwood. 

They were returning home to an uncertain future. Communications weren’t as instant then, and many weren’t sure what they would find on the ground.

But that didn’t stop them from having fun – the rum punch was flowing – or being generous to strangers. I came off the plane with hand-written phone numbers and invitations to come by for a meal. 

It seems that things haven’t changed. Reporting from Jamaica, BBC correspondent Regan Morris described the flight from the UK to cover the storm’s aftermath.

“Jamaica has been battered and the Jamaicans on our flight want the world to see it,” Morris wrote. 

“As we grabbed our backpacks and cameras from the overhead luggage, a man named Bernard offered to help us find accommodation near Black River – one of the most severely impacted areas. Several passengers on our flight overheard and started offering us homes or offering to call their friends to help us.” 

Morris concluded: “As journalists, we often witness people going through the worst days of their lives. We are also privileged to witness the absolute best in humanity. Jamaica couldn’t have given us a warmer welcome.”

One Jamaican who lived through both storms, nearly 40 years apart, told a journalist that Melissa was a much more powerful storm than Gilbert.

“We never see this in our history. [Hurricane] Gilbert was a baby,” Santa Cruz resident Barrington Robinson said.

Considering some of the sights I saw back in 1988 – palm trees tossed like javelins through the roofs of houses, a service taking place in a church with just one wall left standing, hundreds of tents emblazoned with Canada logos housing displaced people on a hillside – that’s a sobering statement.

Jamaica’s capital Kingston escaped the full force of the fearsome storm, and its airport is busy receiving emergency supplies.

As damage assessment continues, it is clear that all of those supplies – and more – will be desperately needed.

Jamaica has now confirmed the deaths of 19 people, while search and rescue efforts continue. As of yesterday, more than 70% of Jamaicans had no electrical power. And in the island’s southwest, vast swathes of land have been stripped bare and entire towns are submerged under floodwaters.

“The devastation is enormous,” said transport minister Daryl Vaz.

“There are entire communities that seem to be marooned and also areas that have been flattened,” said Jamaican Minister of Education, Skills, Youth, and Information Dana Dixon. “We are trying to get to the areas that have been marooned. We will get there… we are going to get to every single Jamaican and give them support.”

“The entire Jamaica is really broken because of what has happened, but we remain resilient,” Dixon added.

Hurricane Melissa’s overall death toll rose to 49 on Thursday as the storm continued its path north through Bermuda, still at hurricane strength.

Thirty people were killed in Haiti, which did not sustain a direct hit but faced days of torrential rains that lead to deadly flooding and landslides.

A preliminary estimate from AccuWeather suggests the storm may have caused damage totalling more than US$50 billion so far.

The storm that has captivated attention for the past week is continuing northeast. It came close to Bermuda early this morning – damage results are scarce as yet – and may potentially make landfall in Newfoundland tonight (Friday) into tomorrow morning.