Embrace disaster preparedness like faith

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Hurricane Melissa must serve as a clarion call: our island cannot afford to treat disasters as rare, isolated tragedies. That ring of catastrophe must move from shock-and-respond to readiness and resilience. In Cuba, disaster preparedness is not just a response mechanism but woven into the very fabric of culture, governance and community. Studies show that Cuba’s remarkably low casualty rate from hurricanes is notbecause of chance but because of decades of institutionalising early warning, evacuation, community drills and shared responsibility.

In Jamaica, we must seize this moment to build disaster readiness into our culture, through the Church, schools, civic structures and government policy. For all of us that means embracing a holistic view of resilience: spiritual, social, infrastructural. The Church is not simply called to minister after the storm, but to help prepare before it.

The following recommendations could be considered:

Mandatory community-level preparedness drills – Every parish should schedule an annual or bi-annual ‘storm readiness day’, where neighbourhoods practise evacuating to shelters, securing roofs, identifying vulnerable persons (elderly, pregnant women, persons with disabilities), and verifying emergency supply kits.

Church-led readiness programmes – Faith congregations should embed ‘disaster readiness’ into their calendar: a Saturday and a Sunday each year when sermon, scripture, prayer and training focus on being ready for hazards, shoring up homes, blessing evacuation points and organising volunteer teams to check on high-risk households.

Government-church collaboration – The government’s disaster-management agencies should partner with churches and civic groups to pre-position shelters, share local hazard maps, and ensure communications infrastructure works in remote areas - the same way Cuba has a national civil-defence chain that starts at the block level.

Education in schools and colleges – From primary to tertiary (including the college I lead), curricula should incorporate modules or courses on climate-related hazards, perspectives in nature and natural disasters, personal/family preparedness, how to interpret warnings, and what to do. Cuba, for example, trains students to be “agents of change” in their households.

Infrastructure and public-policy reform – Parliament, ministries and parish councils must treat disaster risk reduction as inclusive of building codes (wind-proofing, flood-resilience), accessible and sturdy shelters (especially in vulnerable parishes), early warning systems, and financing for community retrofits.

Cultural shift – Beyond the physical, we must shift mindsets so that preparedness is part of our rhythm, not a last-minute bolt-on, like what we said before the passage of Melissa. The church can preach about the impact of the Fall on nature, wise stewardship, loving-our-neighbour preparedness, and guarding creation, so that our readiness becomes an act of worship and communal care.

Regular evaluation – Following each event (like Melissa) we must conduct rigorous after-action reviews: what worked, what failed, what gaps remain, and we must do this together without political influence or interference. These findings should inform the next year’s plan. Cuba’s system thrives because it is reviewed and updated.

Jamaica cannot rely on geography or faith alone. Some of my Christian brothers and sisters might disagree, but millennia of human experience have taught us that faith gives hope, but hope without preparation is not enough. By embedding disaster preparedness into our culture, church life and governance, we honour both our Creator and our neighbour. We turn catastrophe into testimony, not just of survival, but of thoughtful, collective resilience, even while we pray and trust the Almighty.

REV EARLMONT WILLIAMS

President

Bethel Bible College of the

Caribbean- Jamaica