Government cash grants after Hurricane Melissa shift focus to how homes are rebuilt

Jamaica is likkle, but we are talwah. The saying reflects generations of endurance, rebuilding, and resilience. But toughness alone does not stop a hurricane. What reduces damage is preparation, sound judgment, and the careful use of limited resources.

When the wind dies down and the rain eases, people step outside in silence. Roofs are counted. Cracks in walls are traced. Waterlines on paintwork mark decisions made long before the storm arrived.

Hurricane Melissa did not simply damage houses. It revealed choices – some well made, others rushed or inherited from a time when the climate behaved differently. As Jamaica moves into a new year, with another hurricane season already approaching, the central question is no longer what was lost.

It is what will be rebuilt, and how wisely.

The Government’s decision to support recovery through direct cash assistance reflects a practical approach. It recognises dignity and places trust in households to prioritise their needs. But with that trust comes responsibility. When resources are limited, every dollar must carry weight.

This is the point at which the conversation must become grounded, technical, and honest.

A NEW CLIMATE, A NEW STANDARD

Jamaica has always lived with storms. That is not new. What is new is their intensity, their rainfall, and the way they linger.

Warmer seas now feed stronger systems. Rain falls in volumes that overwhelm drains, gullies, and long-held assumptions. Winds no longer simply pass over buildings; they probe, lift, twist, and exploit weaknesses.

This is not theory. It is observation.

Rebuilding “the way it was before” is no longer enough. The houses that failed during Hurricane Melissa did not fail by accident. They failed at predictable points – points that can be strengthened if we are prepared to be honest about them.

THE ROOF: WHERE EVERY STORY BEGINS

If there is one consistent truth written across Jamaica after every major hurricane, it is this: the roof tells the whole story.

Once the roof fails, everything beneath it is exposed – walls, wiring, floors, possessions, and dignity. That is why any serious use of recovery funds must begin above your head.

Not with finishes. Not with paint. But with structure.

WHAT MAKES A ROOF SURVIVE?

There is a common misunderstanding that survival is about materials alone – zinc versus tile, timber versus concrete. In reality, survival is about connections.

A roof does not lift because it is weak. It lifts because it is not properly tied down.

Rafters and trusses must be secured to ring beams with properly installed hurricane straps. Ring beams must be continuous, reinforced, and anchored. Loads must travel safely all the way down to the foundation.

This principle – known as load transfer – is central to hurricane resilience. If the load path is broken anywhere, failure begins there.

Fasteners matter. Screw spacing matters. Overhangs matter. Even the direction a roof faces matters.

In the most exposed locations – hilltops, coastlines, wind corridors – reinforced concrete roofs, properly engineered and constructed, offer greater resilience. But concrete is not automatically safe. Poor reinforcement, inadequate curing, or weak connections can make it just as vulnerable.

Engineering isigor here is not optional.

“A roof isn’t just something that keeps the rain out. It’s a structural system. If you treat it like decoration, the hurricane will remind you it’s engineering,” notes Dean Jones, founder of Jamaica Homes.

WALLS, COLUMNS, AND THE HIDDEN WORK THAT MATTERS MOST

Cracked walls are often treated as cosmetic problems. They are not. They are signals.

If Hurricane Melissa cracked or displaced a wall, forces travelled through the structure in ways it was not designed to handle. Simply patching those cracks invites future failure.

This is where humility becomes a building material.

There are moments when householders must pause and bring in expertise – not because they lack intelligence, but because buildings are systems. Steel reinforcement must continue uninterrupted from foundation to ring beam. Columns must align. Repairs must strengthen, not conceal.

Good rebuilding is often invisible when it is finished. That is how you know it was done properly.

WINDOWS AND DOORS: WEAK POINTS THAT MULTIPLY DAMAGE

Broken windows are never cosmetic damage. In a hurricane, a window becomes a pressure point. Once wind enters a house, internal pressure rises, roof uplift accelerates, and failure follows quickly. What begins as a shattered pane can turn into structural loss in minutes.

Windows and doors must therefore be treated as part of the building’s defence, not its decoration. Hurricane-rated windows, properly installed shutters, and reinforced doors reduce the risk of breach. In high-risk locations, unnecessary openings on windward sides should be reconsidered altogether. Sometimes closing a window permanently is the safer decision.

In Jamaica, this is not theory. It is a lesson learned repeatedly, at a cost too high to ignore.

“I’ve spent years seeing what happens when these details are ignored – not in theory, but on real sites, with real families asking how it went so wrong,” Dean Jones said.

“People think they saved money until they realise they paid for the same mistake twice. Hurricanes don’t punish bad intentions – they expose weak decisions. We like to say we’re talwah in Jamaica, and we are. But talwah doesn’t mean careless. It means building so that when the storm passes, your house is still standing.”

FLOODING: REBUILD WITH MEMORY, NOT FORGETFULNESS

Floodwater leaves marks long after it drains away.

If a home flooded during Hurricane Melissa, that waterline is not an accident – it is a warning. Rebuilding without acknowledging it is one of the most expensive mistakes a household can make.

Electrical systems should be raised. Materials at lower levels should tolerate moisture. Drainage paths should be improved. Walls must be allowed to dry fully before being sealed.

Flooding is not always about rain. It is about where water wants to go when gravity takes over.

MAKING LIMITED MONEY DO SERIOUS WORK

Cash assistance is not unlimited. Needs are vast. Wisdom lies in prioritisation.

Structural work should always come before finishes. Grouping jobs with neighbours can reduce contractor costs. Multiple quotes reveal not just prices, but understanding.

There are moments when doing the work yourself makes sense, and moments when it is genuinely unsafe. Knowing the difference is part of rebuilding responsibly.

“Every dollar you spend strengthening your house is a dollar you don’t have to spend recovering from the next storm,” Dean Jones has often said.

It is not about perfection. It is about reducing risk, step by step.

PREPAREDNESS: QUIET, PRACTICAL, LIFE-SAVING

Preparation is not panic. It is planning.

A simple emergency kit – torch, radio, water, documents, medication, basic food – costs little compared to the consequences of not having one. Stored properly and forgotten until needed, it is one of the simplest forms of resilience available.

Preparedness is rarely dramatic. But it is always effective.

THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT: HUMILITY

Perhaps the greatest lesson from Hurricane Melissa is not technical at all.

It is humility.

Jamaica is a patchwork of microclimates, elevations, soil types, and wind behaviours. A solution that works in one parish may fail in another. There is no universal blueprint for safety – only principles applied with care.

The storm does not negotiate. It does not respect tradition. It only responds to physics.

And when we build with humility, we build not just houses, but continuity.

LOOKING FORWARD – BECAUSE THE CLIMATE HAS ALREADY CHANGED

For years, many of us learned to manage problems instead of fixing them. A leak became something to watch. A weak roof became “still holding”. Buildings were patched, not strengthened. Life moved forward, money was earned, and decisions were postponed. Some people moved on to better circumstances. Others did not. The storm made no distinction.

Hurricane Melissa did not create these weaknesses. It exposed them.

That way of living – always managing, always delaying – is no longer sustainable. Climate has changed. The margin for error has narrowed. What could once be ignored now becomes a point of failure.

This is a new year. Hurricane season is closer than it feels. Climate reality is no longer on the horizon; it is already shaping how we live, build, and protect what we own.

The Government’s support offers relief, but more importantly, it offers a choice – not just to repair what was damaged, but to build smarter than before.

As Dean Jones has observed throughout the recovery, resilience is not about shortcuts or bravado. It is about judgment, preparation, and decisions made early enough to matter.

Jamaica may be small. But resilience has never been measured by size.

As the saying goes, Jamaica is likkle, but we are talwah – not because we ignore risk, but because we learn, adapt, and prepare. In the end, rebuilding must aim for homes that endure, not by defying nature, but by understanding it.

- This article was first published by Jamaica Homes News at jamaica-homes.com. Email feedback to office@jamaica-homes.com and columns@gleanerjm.com