Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie | Building back better after Hurricane Melissa

Hurricane Melissa, a Category Five storm, made landfall at New Hope in Westmoreland, cut across the southwestern parishes, and exited Jamaica via St Ann. At least one-third of the island has been devastated, with the poorest hit the hardest.

The storm tore through communities, leaving behind grief, trauma, and widespread destruction. Approximately 45 people are reported to have died, but this number may change in the coming weeks. The cost of the damage is now estimated to be over US$8 billion, more than a third of Jamaica’s GDP, with costs still rising.

As relief efforts continue, the nation must now begin to shift from response to rebuilding, but rebuilding must recognise that we now live in a world of climate extremes and, if we rebuild the same old way, we risk repeating the same tragedy.

We must now ensure our communities are more climate-resilient.

WHAT DOES ‘BUILD BACK BETTER’ MEAN?

Climate resilience is how well our communities, the economy, and ecosystems prepare for, handle climate events when they happen, and recover afterward. It is the difference between bouncing back and getting stuck in a crisis. Being climate-resilient protects our country’s safety and security.

Building back better means making our homes, hospitals, roads, schools, and communities stronger, to withstand the hazards we know to expect. It also demands acknowledging that the safest solution may not include rebuilding in the same place. Most importantly, it requires that we be guided by science.

Scientists are already warning us that:

• Jamaica is getting hotter.

• Rainfall is changing — sometimes too much, sometimes too little.

• Hurricanes will be stronger and intensify faster.

• Sea level is rising.

We must use this information to make smart choices.

Hazard assessments show areas which are most at risk from events like floods, storms, or landslides. They exist for many vulnerable places in Jamaica, including Montego Bay, Black River and Savanna-la-Mar. These assessments were designed to guide life-saving action. Millions of dollars have been spent on producing them over the years. We must USE them, not leave them on a bookshelf in some back office. Reconstructing hospitals or schools in known flood zones or rebuilding homes on eroding coastlines is a guarantee of future failure.

COST OF IGNORING WARNINGS

Hurricane Melissa was unprecedented, but it was also not a one-time event. As fossil fuel emissions continue to heat the planet, hurricanes are intensifying faster and weather is becoming less predictable. Some argue that preparing for the worst is too expensive, especially when families are desperate to restore a sense of normalcy. Choosing the cheaper, quicker fix today, however, often guarantees higher costs tomorrow.

Hard conversations are unavoidable. Communities have deep roots in places that are now high-risk. Delays and half measures only make us more vulnerable.

The repairs made after Hurricane Beryl in 2024 did not address the underlying weaknesses in school infrastructure. As a result, several of the same schools, despite more than J$4 billion spent, were again heavily damaged during Hurricane Melissa. There are now calls for international support to redesign school building standards, but we already have strong building codes, they’re just not consistently enforced. We also have assessment tools. The Model Safe Schools Programme, funded by the Caribbean Development Bank in 2017, provides a regional system for assessing school safety and environmental resilience. Used properly, it can pinpoint weaknesses, guide upgrades, and support better policy decisions.

It is time to stop studying problems endlessly and start acting on the recommendations and tools we already have.

What does ‘building back better’ look like? Stronger infrastructure alone is not enough. Building back better requires:

• Appropriate, enforced building codes.

• Clear no-build zones in the most high-risk areas.

• Mandatory evacuation orders for Category Five threats including drills and prior work with vulnerable communities.

• Protecting natural coastal defences — mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reefs, wetlands.

• Transparency in how rebuilding funds are spent.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has cautioned against simply slabbing every roof as the solution. He is right. Hurricanes are not the only climate threat, extreme heat and flooding are also worsening. Jamaica is also vulnerable to earthquakes. This is why good hazard and vulnerability assessments are essential and should guide rebuilding or new development.

There are also other tools like J-SRAT that we should be using. This is a geospatial climate-risk platform that maps and quantifies physical climate risk to infrastructure and helps prioritise resilient investments, including nature-based solutions. It was developed through the Planning Institute of Jamaica and The University of the West Indies, Mona.

Rebuilding after Hurricane Melissa will take years, but the choices we make now will determine whether Jamaica becomes safer or remains dangerously exposed. This moment demands bold, science-based leadership. It requires community participation in planning and decisions grounded in equity. It requires specialised task forces and accountability at every level. We have an opportunity before us, not just to rebuild, but to transform.

Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie, PhD, is an environmental scientist and chief executive officer of Jamaica Environment Trust. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com