Ensuring the Future: Lessons from Hurricane Melissa & Jamaica’s Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Efforts

The Caribbean is highly susceptible to natural disasters, which pose an existential threat to the lives and livelihoods of its citizens. The increasing frequency and intensity of weather events, driven by external factors like climate change, place the region at significant risk of losing billions invested in development goals.

The payout from Jamaica's Catastrophe Bond, triggered by Hurricane Melissa, provided crucial immediate financial relief, underscoring the vital role of sovereign risk-financing tools. But Hurricane Melissa also highlighted the tangible value of Jamaica's forward-looking investments; areas upgraded under the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project (DVRP), such as the Myton Gully crossing, withstood the heavy rainfall and flooding that historically devastated the Big Pond community. These improvements did not just prevent road closures, they safeguarded homes, livelihoods and critical transport routes, demonstrating that prevention before disaster strikes is as critical as financing after the fact.

This compels a bold, forward-looking question: Can a country not only insure - but also ensure - its safety through long-term, smart, preventive investments? The success of the Myton Gully improvements suggest Jamaica is on that very path.

"Jamaica has a proven track record of proactive investment in risk management," shares Artessa Saldivar-Sali, World Bank Senior Infrastructure Specialist and Task Team Leader for the project. Between 2016 and 2022, the Government of Jamaica (GoJ), through the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), implemented the DVRP. This US$30 million project was designed to enhance Jamaica's resilience to disaster and climate risk, focusing on risk identification, risk reduction infrastructure (adaptation) and improved institutional capacity for climate and disaster resilience.

One of the many impactful infrastructure investments under the DVRP was the Myton Gully - Old Harbour Road Crossing project.This area, known as 'Big Pond - Myton Gully,' stretches from over 6km upstream all the way to Old Harbour Bay. Historically, heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding, inundating hundreds of homes upstream.

As resident Kaya Brian shared, before the project, the road was inundated during heavy periods of rainfall, which would flood her sister's home on the lower side of their property, forcing her sister and children to seek safety at Kaya's house. She recalled, "They would lose fridges, furniture and other things outside would wash away." She noted that, thanks to the upgrades, even during Hurricane Melissa, their homes remained safe, and the community avoided the losses they faced in previous storms.

Another resident, an artist who goes by the name Samujah, recalls that the single-lane road was once the source of tragedies, including the death of a soldier but now, "Nobody has to run out every night [to] come take up [rescue] people because of a lot of accidents."

The project upgraded the road, raised the bridge, and widened the gully from a single-cell box culvert (one narrower opening) to a four-cell structure.This increased drainage capacity significantly, eliminating upstream back-up and preventing flooding of the roadway and surrounding communities. Thanks to the DVRP upgrades, flooding that would have washed out homes and blocked roads during Hurricane Melissa was prevented. Hurricane Melissa's impact was mitigated because the infrastructure was strengthened beforehand, a perfect example of prevention over cure.

Vincent Myrie, another resident of several decades, shared that traveling this route took hours prior to the bridge upgrade. As a construction worker, he explained that when there was a blockage, either from an accident or flooding, it would set his work back by hours: "If I even needed to go for or bring back one bag of cement to do any work in this area, I would [have to] stand [still] for hours." He is now happy that he no longer faces those issues, calling the new bridge a 'blessing' that has made traversing to and from work much easier.

The DVRP demonstrates that true resilience is built through strategic investments, such as the Myton Gully crossing, which reduce risks, save lives and protect jobs. The Myton Gully upgrade shows that resilience isn'tjust a policy goal; it has real, measurable effects when disasters strike. Hurricane Melissa proved that Jamaica's strategic investments in disaster risk reduction are saving lives, protecting property, and keeping the country moving even in extreme weather.

Artessa encapsulates this success, stating: "Investing in risk reduction pays off. Climate resilience isn't just a statement made at a conference; it's work that's being done right across the country to protect people from the impacts of disasters like Hurricane Melissa."

Jamaica's DVRP work offers a compelling blueprint for small states seeking to shift decisively from a reactive disaster response cycle to one of enduring, sustainable resilience.