About 146,000 buildings sustained major damage from Hurricane Melissa - ODPEM

Approximately 146,000 buildings impacted by hurricane Melissa across Jamaica sustained major to severe structural damage, authorities have disclosed.

This accounts for 15 per cent of the 960,000 buildings that have already been assessed, according to Commander Alvin Gayle, Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM).

The damage includes total collapse and extensive roof or wall loss.

Another 191,000 buildings — 20 per cent of those assessed — sustained damage considered minor to severe, Gayle told journalists during a special media briefing at Jamaica House on Thursday.

The assessments were done using geo-spatial radar data analytics and have an 88 per cent rate of confidence, according to the ODPEM director general.

Gayle said four parishes, St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, St James and Hanover, continue to record “the highest concentrations” of damage consistent with the trajectory of the hurricane.

Melissa made landfall in New Hope, Westmoreland, on October 28, with top winds of 180 miles per hour causing 45 deaths and wide-scale devastation.

The ODPEM director general said it is estimated that 360,000 people and 90,000 households were “directly impacted”.

“Further validation exercises are currently ongoing to refine these figures as field teams extend their coverage into central and eastern parishes over the coming weeks,” he said.

Gayle said the findings from the assessments are being used to inform the national framework for recovery, including the prioritisation of shelters, the establishment of safe housing zones and targeted material support.

Authorities have served over 570,000 hot meals and distributed more than 90,000 care packages in communities that were impacted by the hurricane, he disclosed.

The ODPEM director general said 33 roadways remain blocked more than two weeks after the hurricane while 239 have been reduced to single lane.

- Livern Barrett

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