The effects of Hurricane Melissa go beyond damage to homes and infrastructure, this disaster has struck at the heart of our productive capacity. Unlike COVID-19, where our productive assets remained intact, this time we have lost farms, businesses, and schools that must now be rebuilt from the ground up. On top of these losses, there are major costs tied to the relief effort, debris management, cleanup operations, food distribution, and support for displaced families. The relief phase alone will

With Jamaica now feeling the worsening effects of category 5 hurricane Melissa, the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) is reporting a 35% increase in outages across several parishes. At this morning’s press briefing Energy Minister Daryl Vaz noted that several generation units, critical high voltage substations, transmission and distribution lines across the island have been forced out of service by hurricane force winds and lightning. Mr. Vaz outlined St. Elizabeth as among the parishes most affected