Janet Silvera/Gleaner Writer

AT TOP: Pastor Alexander Wurm and his 22-year-old daughter Serena.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

‘He was a hero!’

WESTERN BUREAU: The Caribbean relief community is hailing the Cayman Islands-based missionary Alexander Wurm as a true hero, a man whose final flight embodied selfless love and service to Jamaica.
Dozens of people wait to purchase fuel from the Thrifty gas station along the Bogue road in Montego Bay, St James, on November 2.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

‘Reopen, even if it’s not perfect’

WESTERN BUREAU: There aren’t enough vendors to serve the crowds of foodies who still converge nightly on the Fort Street jerk chicken strip, as Montego Bay slowly claws its way back to normality after…
Collen Gager, mayor of Falmouth.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

Falmouth’s popular Bend-Down Market to reopen Wednesday

WESTERN BUREAU: Falmouth’s popular Bend-Down Market is on course to reopen on Wednesday, just under two weeks after Hurricane Melissa tore through the historic town, leaving widespread destruction.…
Minister of Local Government, Desmond McKenzie (2nd left) and Mayor of Falmouth, Collen Gager (right front) tour the town of Falmouth with other technocrats in the government and vendors displaced by Hurricane Melissa.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

McKenzie: Falmouth devastation as bad as Black River

WESTERN BUREAU: The devastation in Falmouth, Trelawny, rivals that of Black River, St Elizabeth, according to Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie, who described…
Dozens queue up for cash at Scotiabank ATM in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay, the tourism capital of the island.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

JHTA allocates $10 million to aid tourism workers hit by Melissa

WESTERN BUREAU: When Hurricane Melissa tore across Jamaica as a Category Five storm on October 28, thousands of tourism workers were left homeless, jobless, and uncertain. Now, the Jamaica Hotel and…
The RIU team preparing water to be dispatched with food organised in collaboration with World Central Kitchen.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

RIU, World Central Kitchen serve thousands of hot meals to Melissa survivors

WESTERN BUREAU: When Category 5 Hurricane Melissa tore through Jamaica on October 28, thousands of families were left without electricity, gas, or clean water. In the storm’s aftermath, RIU Resorts…
Architectural designer and construction manager, Curtis Hylton, lead for the St James chapter of the Small Business Association of Jamaica.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

Container homes proposed as quick fix for hurricane homelessness

WESTERN BUREAU: Architectural designer and construction project manager Curtis Hylton believes that it is time for Jamaica to embrace a housing model once dismissed as “unconventional” - retrofitted…
Members of the Chinese community out of western Jamacia with Floyd Green, member of parliament for St Elizabeth South Western, during a visit on Wednesday to Parottee in St Elizabeth, one of the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Melissa
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

Chinese community secures $100m in hurricane relief support for western Jamaica

Western Bureau: The Chinese community in western Jamaica has secured more than $100 million in aid support to help families left homeless by Hurricane Melissa, dispatching busloads of care packages…
Edmond Bartlett, minister of tourism. FILE
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

Closed hotels set timelines for reopening after hurricane

Western Bureau: The powerful Category 5 Hurricane Melissa battered Hanover, Westmoreland, Trelawny, St Elizabeth, and sections of St James, forcing temporary hotel closures and displacing hundreds of…