Turn crisis into opportunity
World Bank, UNDP urge Jamaica to ‘reimagine’ in reconstruction after Hurricane Melissa
Published:Sunday | November 9, 2025 | 6:08 PMJovan Johnson - Senior Staff Reporter
The World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are urging Jamaica to turn the devastation from Hurricane Melissa into an opportunity to “reimagine” its reconstruction and resilience systems.
Their call comes as the country confronts widespread destruction from the record-breaking Category 5 storm, which hit on October 28 with 185-mile-per-hour winds, leaving much of western Jamaica in ruins.
More than 120,000 homes lost their roofs, 90,000 families were displaced, and at least 32 people have died. Vast sections of the west remain without stable electricity or Internet.
In an interview with The Sunday Gleaner during a one-day visit to Kingston on Friday, World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean Dr Susana Cordeiro Guerra praised Jamaica’s record of disaster preparedness but said the next test lies in reconstruction.
“Jamaica is really at the forefront in terms of this benchmark of emergency preparedness,” she said. “Now being able to draw on all of that knowledge and apply it to reconstruction to set a new benchmark will be important, and here, I think, it’s key to the Government’s vision in terms of resilience, reconstruction, but also reimagine Jamaica.”
She urged the Government to “use this crisis as an opportunity” to build resilient infrastructure in key sectors such as utilities, roads, water and sewerage systems.
A similar message came from UNDP Resident Representative Dr Kishan Khoday, who described the “staggering and deeply troubling” loss of lives and livelihoods.
“Crises serve as opportunities to build back better, through resilient recovery solutions,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.
Khoday said given the extent of the destruction, recovery effort must focus on ensuring that homes, schools, and critical infrastructure are rebuilt to withstand future shocks.
“UNDP supports integration of green solutions into systems and structures built back after a disaster, such as climate and disaster resilient homes and buildings, climate resilient irrigation and water systems, use of solar power for rebuilt tourism sites, SMEs and farmers,” he said.
He acknowledged that while regional early-warning systems worked, there was room for improvement.
“A key part of UNDP’s offer of assistance is to ... scale up support for futures and foresighting technology and planning, to embrace the role of digital and geospatial assets, and make development assets future proof for 2030 and beyond to 2050 in an era of more frequent and severe disasters,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.
Meanwhile, Cordeiro Guerra hailed the activation of Jamaica’s US$150 million (J$24 billion) catastrophe bond, triggered automatically on Friday, with full disbursement expected by December 1.
“It’s a parametric structure and all of the parameters were met,” she explained. “It’s more of a result of all of this strategy and thinking that went ahead of the disaster, years and years of experience that the country has with disaster preparedness.”
The catastrophe bond – pioneered under former Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke – is a financial instrument that transfers disaster risk to investors. Once agreed conditions such as wind speed or rainfall thresholds are met, the funds are automatically released to support recovery.
FINALISING ASSESSMENT
The World Bank is finalising a damage and loss assessment with the Government to guide reconstruction priorities, to be released this week.
“The loss will be of a tall magnitude, but we are confident in the Government’s vision and approach for recovery and reconstruction,” Cordeiro Guerra said. “This is not only about building back, but building back in a better and more resilient way.”
She said the bank’s support will combine public financing, mobilisation of private capital, and job-driven recovery initiatives.
“We really have to think about providing opportunities through reconstruction and relief efforts so that people can be employed, earn livelihoods and we can enhance prosperity as soon as possible,” she added, highlighting agriculture, tourism, and small businesses as key sectors.
UNDP’s digital and AI mapping revealed that one million buildings and 14,700 kilometres of roads were exposed to hurricane-force winds exceeding 120 km/h, leaving about five million tonnes of debris. The hardest-hit parishes – Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, Trelawny, Hanover, and St James – include the island’s tourism belt and agricultural heartland.
The UNDP’s early recovery plan focuses on debris clearance, restoration of community infrastructure, support for small enterprises, decentralised solar systems, and rehabilitation of watersheds and ecosystems.
“We stand firm in our commitment to plan forward for a resilient recovery, building on the resilience Jamaicans have shown,” Khoday said.
He added that UNDP is assisting the Government in using digital crisis-response platforms to coordinate aid and strengthen community-based early-warning systems that combine local communication networks with geospatial data.
“At the base of effective early-warning systems is an empowered community – building networks of communication and preparedness among communities, local government, SMEs and local business,” he noted.
The devastation from Hurricane Melissa – the strongest storm ever to hit Jamaica and among the most intense in Caribbean history – comes just days before the UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Brazil on November 10, where climate finance for vulnerable nations will top the agenda.
Khoday said the destruction underscored the need for stronger global support for vulnerable island states and as the UN’s largest implementer of grant assistance globally for climate action, the UNDP “stands ready to collaborate with Jamaica on accessing scaled up climate finance”.
“Small island developing states have little to do with generating emissions but face disproportionate impacts. This is an issue of climate justice,” he said.
In a statement to Parliament on November 4, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness placed preliminary losses from Hurricane Melissa at US$6 billlion to US$7 billion (J$963 billion to J$1.1 trillion) – equivalent to 28 to 32 per cent of GDP.
“We have never had a disaster of this magnitude with this economic footprint in terms of the impact, not Gilbert, not Ivan,” Holness said. “To lose 30 per cent of your GDP is significant.”
The storm crippled infrastructure across western and southern parishes, wiping out crops, damaging hospitals, and blocking major roads. Holness said about 40 per cent of the economy was directly affected and urged the rest to “double our economic output”.
He acknowledged that early relief operations “started off a bit slowly” but said coordination has since improved. Up to November 6, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security had distributed more than 30,000 seven-day food packages. The Jamaica Defence Force now leads logistics through 22 humanitarian outposts, with food drops completed in 22 of 27 marooned communities up to late last week.
Holness announced a restructuring of Jamaica’s disaster management system, placing the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management under the Office of the Prime Minister and appointing Commander Alvin Gayle as its new head.
He cautioned that the recovery phase will demand “difficult questions” about urban and coastal planning.
“Should Black River be where it is? How do we build a resilient town in Black River? What are we going to do with Falmouth? What are we going to do with the hospitals? Should we rebuild these hospitals with zinc roofs? And schools?” he asked.