Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall in southwestern Jamaica on Oct. 28 as a Category 5 storm has wreaked devastation across this nation, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba, as it bears down on the Bahamas. As of this writing, an estimated 49 people are dead, 25 of them in Haiti, but this is certainly an undercount. The 25 dead in Haiti occurred after the Digue River overran its banks and flooded the town of Petit Goave, southwest of Port-au-Prince, collapsing houses and leaving untold numbers of victims buried in mud under the rubble.
Every year, Atlantic hurricanes sweep through the Caribbean and/or Central America leaving death and destruction in their wake caused by the absence of crucial infrastructure—protected energy grids, hurricane-proof housing, proper sewage systems, fortified bridges and roads. This region cries out for the kind of aggressive development programs advocated by the Schiller Institute, the Belt and Road Initiative and the BRICS, preferably in cooperation with the United States, to make these nations safe for their citizens.
Absent that, the pattern is repeated year after year. The devastation to Jamaica, whose south and southwestern regions are still without power, was unprecedented, the worst in its recorded history initially hitting the island with 185 mph winds. At least 1 million people were affected. Flooding was extensive, damaging hospitals, residential and commercial property and damage to road infrastructure, Prime Minister Andrew Holness reported.
In Haiti, whose citizens live in Gaza-like conditions, with 5.1 million suffering acute food insecurity, homes and schools are under water in several districts. In addition to the effects of Melissa, Haiti had suffered torrential rains for the eight days prior to Oct. 26, even before Melissa arrived. At least 1.3 million displaced Haitians live in squalid shelters devoid of services, medical attention, or proper food. In Cuba, Melissa entered the country as a Category 3 storm in the eastern part of the island but still packed violent winds and torrential rains. The government declared emergencies in six eastern provinces and evacuated 735,000 people to shelters to escape extreme flooding and winds.
