Hurricane Melissa Leaves Jamaica with Over $6 Billion in Losses

Jamaica is facing one of its worst economic setbacks in history after Hurricane Melissa tore through the “heart of Jamaica’s productive belt” on October 28. The storm caused billions in damages and crippled vital industries.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the storm devastated several parishes, including St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, St James, Trelawny, and St Ann. “It inflicted heavy damage on housing, community infrastructure, commercial operations, and public utilities,” he stated.

Holness described the disaster as “not only a humanitarian crisis; it is a shock to livelihoods, incomes, and local economies.”

Preliminary assessments estimate losses between six and seven billion U.S. dollars, equal to roughly 28 to 32 per cent of the island’s previous year’s GDP.

“To lose 30% of your GDP is significant,” Holness said, adding that “we had never had a disaster of this magnitude of this economic footprint in terms of the impact.”

The Prime Minister said thousands of households have lost homes and that agriculture, tourism, and small businesses were hardest hit.

With such staggering losses, attention is now turning to the upcoming COP30 climate summit. The devastation in Jamaica adds to the list of harsh truths, which is that countries that contribute the least to global emissions often suffer the most from their effects.

Developing countries are not coming to the table empty-handed; instead, they are bringing the evidence of what inaction looks like: lost livelihoods, destroyed infrastructure, and shattered economies.

The question hanging over is whether this meeting of the signatories to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will be any different from the preceding 29 gatherings, all of which yielded little.

Once again, global experts, activists, and officials will converge to debate solutions, seek funding, and urge accountability.