Commentary

This photo shows Pond Side Primary School in Black River, St Elizabeth, which has been left without a roof after the passing of Hurricane Melissa.
December 9, 2025

Ruthlyn James | Storms will come, learning must continue

When nature tests a country, its schools reveal the depth of its social fabric. Jamaica’s classrooms, time and again, have proven to be more than spaces for lessons; they are sanctuaries of hope,…
Ambassador Byron Blake
December 9, 2025

Byron Blake | Hurricane Melissa: lessons for policymakers

Hurricane Melissa passed Jamaica by arguably the shortest and least expensive route. Yet, the destruction and deaths must be seen to be believed. It boggles the mind to think of Melissa tracking down…
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December 9, 2025

Orville Taylor | Hard road ahead

At least 75 per cent of Jamaican households lost electricity and property. Most Jamaicans have relatives or close friends living in the affected areas. Therefore, unless you are a fortunate…
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December 9, 2025

Garth Rattray | Some disasters are preventable

I am penning this piece on Saturday, October 25. Currently, Hurricane Melissa is creeping its way towards us with malevolent intent. Almost all the weather experts have predicted that Melissa will…
A man passes a fallen tree on a property along Crane Road in Black River, St Elizabeth.
December 9, 2025

Editorial | Road to recovery – focus on mental health

Melissa, one of the strongest hurricanes to hit Jamaica in its recorded history, which decimated parishes in the western side of the island, has left more than a heap of mangled structures in its…
In this photo people are seen trying to move concrete power pole which was blocking Lacovia main road.
December 9, 2025

Editorial | A consensus path to recover

As the magnitude of the devastation left behind by Hurricane Melissa begins to become clearer, it is obvious that Jamaica has a massive recovery project on its hands. In the west of the island, where…
Residents walk through Lacovia Tombstone, Jamaica, in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.
December 9, 2025

Kristen Gyles | We survived the unsurvivable

One foreign news reporter described the hurricane as being ‘unsurvivable’. But here we are, almost three million strong, having survived one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record. No, not…
December 9, 2025

Tony Deyal | Bon accord, bonne aventure

When I was 16 years old my parents decided to take me with them to Tobago where my father’s drinking partner and family member had a place where there were four rooms for “rent”. We got one for free…
JLP office on Belmont Road, Kingston.
December 9, 2025

Peter Espeut | Hoping for a good breeze-blow

I monitored Melissa on-line as she passed well to the south of Kingston on Sunday night, and rejoiced that the capital was spared the worst. And then she didn’t turn north when expected, and I hoped…