Jamaica: Hurricane Melissa - Situation Report No. 6 (as of 2 December)

KEY POINTS

● Over 90,000 households (representing approximately 279,000 people) remain displaced more than one month after Hurricane Melissa, with very few returns recorded despite the number of people occupying shelters decreasing as families move into informal arrangements.
● An ongoing leptospirosis outbreak, with 45 suspected cases, 18 confirmed and 12 deaths, continues to drive emergency health interventions, including mobile clinics, environmental health monitoring, vector control, and water-quality testing.
● Approximately 280,000 people have been reached with humanitarian assistance, including food distributions and hot meals. The
transition from in-kind food assistance to cash-based support is being implemented to minimize short-term coverage gaps as distribution operations wind down.
● International financial institutions (IFIs) have announced a US$6.7 billion recovery financing package, with US$662 million already unlocked for immediate support.

KEY FIGURES

280K Estimated number of people reached with direct or indirect humanitarian assistance
279K Estimated number of people displaced (based on household figures)
180K+ People reached through food kit distributions reported by partners
74K Tarpaulins distributed by partners to affected communities
5.5 Tons of immediate health sector goods deployed, including essential medicines and water/sanitation/hygiene goods

SITUATION OVERVIEW

More than one month after Hurricane Melissa made landfall, many communities across western and south-central Jamaica are still facing acute needs. Displacement persists, with around 90,000 households, approximately 279,000 people1, still unable to return home, a figure that has remained largely unchanged over the last few weeks.

Around 100 of the island’s 881 emergency shelters remain open across seven parishes, hosting just over 1,100 people as of 30 November. Many displaced families are no longer in formal shelters, staying instead with relatives or community members while they wait for viable transitional housing solutions. Shelter needs remain widespread, alongside sustained requirements for food assistance, water and hygiene supplies, tarpaulins, bedding, baby items, essential medical products, and materials for temporary housing repairs.

Although Kingston itself was not among the hardest-hit areas, many of its primary income earners who support vulnerable households, including elderly dependents, live and work in the most affected parishes. Loss of livelihoods in these affected communities is now having secondary impacts on households in Kingston and surrounding areas, where families who depend on this financial support are increasingly strained.

Although restoration of critical services has progressed, access remains uneven. Around 21 per cent of electricity customers, approximately 144,000 households, remain without power, while 17.5 per cent of water customers, about 96,000 households, lack reliable piped supply. Water trucking continues in harder-hit areas, delivering approximately 100,000 gallons daily. These gaps in service are prolonging displacement and compounding daily hardships, limiting hygiene practices and food storage while slowing the full reopening of schools, health facilities, and small businesses. Periodic rain events across several parishes continue to saturate soils, raising the risk of renewed localized flooding and hampering cleanup, debris removal, and recovery work.

Meteorological conditions remain a concern. A trough persists across Jamaica, with isolated showers forecast for southern parishes, raising the risk of renewed localized flooding in already saturated areas.
Health concerns have emerged as a defining issue of this phase of the response. The Ministry of Health and Wellness has confirmed an active leptospirosis outbreak, with 45 suspected cases, 18 confirmed and 12 deaths reported as of 30 November, along with one confirmed tetanus fatality. St. James, St. Ann, and St. Elizabeth remain among the most impacted parishes. Surveillance and response efforts are ongoing through mobile health clinics, environmental health inspections, risk-communication campaigns promoting protective gear use during clean-up, water safety guidance, and psychological first aid delivered in shelters and communities.

Beyond immediate health risks, challenges to livelihood recovery are becoming increasingly evident. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates that more than 1.1 million poultry were lost - roughly half of the national layer flock – severely disrupting egg and poultry supply chains. The impact is particularly harsh for small backyard farmers, who rely on these systems for income. The Government has approved a J$40 million recovery package focused on rebuilding coops, supporting feed purchases, and restocking operations, although production recovery for vulnerable farmers is expected to take several months. Environmental impacts are also complicating recovery prospects, with the Forestry Department reporting damage to approximately 51 per cent of Jamaica’s forest cover, over 270,000 hectares, increasing risks of erosion, landslides, mosquito proliferation, and longer-term ecosystem stress even as reforestation assessments and nursery scale-up efforts advance.

The broader economic effects are coming into sharper focus. Authorities project an 11-13 per cent contraction in Groos Domestic Product (GDP) for the October-December quarter, with an estimated 3-6 per cent decline across the 2025/26 fiscal year, driven by losses across housing, agriculture, tourism, transport, energy, and ICT sectors. The Bank of Jamaica has warned of sustained inflationary pressures linked to shortages of food and essential services and ongoing supply-chain disruptions, with inflation not expected to return to its target range before 2027. Temporary easing of fiscal rules has been introduced to enable scaled financing for relief and reconstruction activities.

These combined pressures demonstrate that Hurricane Melissa has evolved from a sudden onset disaster into a protracted, multi-dimensional crisis, where displacement, health risks, environmental damage, livelihood disruption, infrastructure gaps, and macro-economic strain intersect. While immediate life-saving support has helped stabilize conditions including the distribution of over 2.7 million meals and more than 246,000 food packages led by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), the persistence of needs underscores the importance of maintaining humanitarian assistance alongside early recovery efforts in the months ahead.