Hurricane Melissa leaves 28 dead in Jamaica with economic losses potentially matching the island’s entire annual GDP, UN officials warn
WHITEHOUSE: Storm-ravaged communities in western Jamaica were facing dire straits days after record-setting Hurricane Melissa left towns demolished and at least 28 people dead across the island.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness confirmed the new death toll, nine higher than the previous tally of 19, and posted that there are additional reports of possible fatalities still being verified.
Melissa became the most intense storm to make landfall in 90 years when it barreled into Jamaica last Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane packing winds of 185 miles per hour.
It ripped a terrifying path through the Caribbean, leaving at least 31 dead in Haiti, including 10 children who drowned in heavy flooding, and ravaged parts of Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
In Jamaica, devastation was rampant in western parishes including Westmoreland and Saint Elizabeth.
AFP reporters witnessed residents grappling with the enormity of the disaster as buildings in Whitehouse were destroyed or crumpled with corrugated roofs strewn across the ground.
Power lines were down and trees were shorn of all leaves throughout the affected regions.
Many communities have been cut off while countless homes, hospitals, businesses and other buildings have been badly damaged or destroyed.
With large swathes of the country still without electricity or phone service, it was difficult to gain an accurate assessment of the death toll or the scope of needed search and rescue operations.
The staggering economic losses will be a burden weighing on Jamaica and the rest of the region for years, a senior United Nations official said in Panama.
Nahuel Arenas, head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction for the Americas and the Caribbean, stated that Melissa could cause economic losses equivalent to Jamaica’s annual GDP.
According to the World Bank, the gross domestic product of Jamaica stood at nearly 20 billion dollars in 2024.
Arenas emphasized that these are losses that will weigh heavily on the economy of all Jamaicans for years and years to come.
The World Health Organization and other groups have stood up medical teams in the country, and the United States says its emergency response teams are on the ground.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres emphasized that international support is crucial at this time and called for the mobilization of massive resources to address the loss and damage.
The UN has allocated 4 million dollars from its Central Emergency Response Fund to help scale up humanitarian operations in Jamaica. – AFP
