Jamaica: Hurricane Melissa

Private Notice Question

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government (1) what steps they are taking to assist the Government and people of Jamaica to recover from Hurricane Melissa, (2) what UK assets and personnel are stationed in the region, and (3) whether they plan to offer financial support.

The UK stands in solidarity with Jamaica following the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa. The Foreign Secretary has spoken with her Jamaican counterpart to reaffirm our commitment to support recovery efforts. We have activated our crisis centre in London to assist British nationals in Jamaica, have deployed response teams to the region and are mobilising up to £2.5 million in emergency humanitarian aid to help Jamaica rebuild in the wake of this disaster.

I thank the Minister for her response. The people of Jamaica have been subjected to the fiercest storm to have taken place anywhere in the world this year. The statistics are shocking. I know that we are at the rescue and recovery stage and that it will be some time for all fatalities or injuries to be established, but I am sure that the whole House will want the people of Jamaica and other islands in the region to know that they are in our thoughts and prayers.

As for the personnel in the region—we do not yet know whether there will be further damage to other territories and people in the region—is the Minister satisfied that we have adequate facilities in the area to give real support at the early stages, particularly with the restoration of power and water supplies to avoid disease and further distress? Furthermore, will there be further tranches of financial assistance available from, I presume, our overseas development budget?

We will provide support in the way that is needed. We have people pre-positioned alongside practical assistance such as shelter kits and other necessary immediate response equipment. I have visited the response centre in Antigua that supports the region. The noble Lord is right that this is not over; the hurricane, although diminishing in ferocity—it was a level 5 when it hit Jamaica, the fiercest hurricane in history—is still at level 3, which is severe. We are keeping in very close contact with our overseas territories in particular, but it also looks as though the hurricane may pass over the Bahamas, so we need to be alive to further developments. We have a Royal Navy presence in the region in the form of HMS “Trent” and experts in initial humanitarian response. We also have our consular team in Miami ready to respond and support the very many British nationals in Jamaica.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her update on the actions that His Majesty’s Government are taking in relation to Hurricane Melissa. I understand that the FCDO website went live yesterday for UK visitors to Jamaica to notify the department of their presence. It was known at the weekend that Melissa was active and was going to hit Jamaica very shortly. Notwithstanding these facts, how are visitors to Jamaica able to notify the department if there is very little wifi and only intermittent signal?

The noble Earl is right that this is a problem. We encourage British nationals to register their presence; we have 24/7 telephone access available, and we have our team in Kingston. The situation is incredibly difficult; there is local advice issued by authorities in Jamaica, which we encourage British nationals to adhere to. We updated our travel advice on Thursday about the likely strength of Hurricane Melissa. This is hurricane season in the Caribbean; these events are not unprecedented, sadly, but the severity and impact of this hurricane are greater than we have seen before.

My Lords, I add to the condolences for the devastating impact on the communities there, and share with the noble Lord regards from all Benches in this House.

The Minister stated, correctly, that this event is even worse than the 2017 hurricanes that affected the Caribbean. I supported the previous Government’s work to change the OECD rules on overseas development assistance for Caribbean and middle-income nations to receive short-term ODA assistance when hit by a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The question now is about not our intent or our support for communities in Jamaica but the scale on which the UK does it.

In 2018 the previous Government, before the development assistance cuts of that Administration, allocated £57 million plus £3 million match funding— so £60 million. With the current Government’s ODA cuts, can the Minister assure me that the £2.5 million is only the start? What is the current size of the UK’s humanitarian crisis reserve pool?

I do not want this to sound at all patronising, but the assistance that we can give now is very different from that which we could give 10 or so years ago. Yes, there is the immediate response, which will take the form of ODA, and we have a crisis reserve, which is where it needs to be for this stage in the year, but we have also been able to work on insurance and construction. I was very recently at a hospital in Jamaica whose construction we had been able to support, making it much more able to withstand the impact of a hurricane. It has generators and its own energy supplies, and some of that is renewable, and it is able to carry on functioning even in the most difficult circumstances. So the infra- structure is becoming more robust. We have invested alongside others in parametric insurance so that the payouts are very fast to enable the Government of Jamaica and those of other islands to be able to respond much more quickly than they could previously.

On the noble Lord’s points about OECD and ODA graduation, for small island developing states that is really important. There is a problem with graduation, as we see with Montserrat at the moment; it is something that we are very keenly looking at to make sure that countries are treated fairly, because at the moment the way these things work often disadvantages countries with very small populations.

My Lords, I am sure that the Minister knows how very well the Jamaican Government prepared for the coming hurricane season, knowing the once in a lifetime scale of the hurricane that has hit. What additional work are His Majesty’s Government doing to help Jamaica and other Caribbean islands prepare for the future? It is preparation, not repair, that helps nations such as Jamaica survive these events. What work are the Government doing with the diaspora, of which I am a member, to help our mother island, as it were, recover from such a devastating hit?

That is a really important point. My right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary spoke to Kamina Johnson Smith, the Foreign Minister in Jamaica, on Monday before Melissa hit, to have exactly that conversation. I know, because I have spoken with Ms Johnson Smith myself in Jamaica, the extent to which the Government there are understanding of what they need to do, and the preparation made within the region is dramatically different now because so much more is known. Our capability in predicting these events is enhanced, and the capability within the region is really quite impressive. That does not mean that they can handle this on their own—of course not. We have a responsibility, which we take incredibly seriously, not least because, as the noble Lord says, there are such strong community links and people-to-people links, particularly with Jamaica. We will continue to work alongside the Government there to make sure that they get what they need to get through this initial period. It is fast moving—we are assessing the damage and will do what we need to do now. This is something on which we are likely to have to stay close to the Government of Jamaica working on for some time.

My Lords, what are the Government prepared to do to assist children in particular? The Minister will know that, tragically, whenever these hurricanes hit, it is women and children who are affected most severely. Can she tell us what work the Government are doing in the longer term to build resilience to support the amazing work that is being done in the Caribbean? The whole Caribbean works together to prepare for these hurricanes, which, regrettably, are coming faster and heavier, with every hurricane getting bigger and worse.

The point about the increased frequency and severity of these extreme weather events is really important, particularly as we approach COP. I know that leaders in the Caribbean and elsewhere want to see UK leadership continue to address that. We work alongside Governments across the Caribbean—and I have to say that Jamaica takes a lead in much of this—with CARIF and with the work that we are doing on finance, particularly on insurance, as I said earlier, making sure that countries are able to take out insurance. We have supported the payment of premiums and the negotiation of policies that will pay out very quickly, within weeks of an extreme weather event, so that there is no need to do all the usual assessment and all the rest, and so that when a weather event is triggered, that money gets to where it is needed as quickly as possible. I saw that in Grenada, where farmers were able to rebuild very quickly, within the season, to enable them to support themselves and continue with their livelihoods. These things are the consequence of long-term partnerships, and I thank my noble and learned friend for the work that she has done to make this possible over the years.

My Lords, I was the Minister when Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit, and I am pleased with and support the Government’s response, particularly the military response, but I want to go to the medium and long term. I pay tribute to the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Scotland, for the work she did in co-ordination with the Commonwealth. What co-ordination is there currently with the emergency response, CDEMA, across the region? Secondly, the previous Government set up the Caribbean infrastructure fund for the long-term development that is needed. That winds down in 2026, but it was set up exactly to help build the infrastructure that is needed across the Caribbean.

I compliment the work of CDEMA because it is crucial when these things happen to have a locally co-ordinated response. CDEMA understands the routes between islands, it understands the community, it has very strong connections and it knows how to get things done far more quickly than any multilateral international agency just showing up would, so I echo what the noble Lord says about that. We will continue to work with our partners internationally as this unfolds and we are able to assess exactly what is needed, but it is vital that the Government of Jamaica are in charge of this: they know what is needed and are able to hold the ring on this. They are more than capable of doing that, and we will work closely with them.

On the issue the noble Lord raised about the Caribbean fund, I am looking closely at the moment at our allocations for the next few years, very conscious of the impact that that resilience funding, as I think of it, has been able to achieve so far. That is one of the reasons why hopefully the infrastructure in the region will be able to withstand these events far better—maybe not completely, but better than it has been able to in the past. I will keep that in mind.

My Lords, overnight in Jamaica, hospitals have been destroyed and need medical supplies and temporary clinics now to treat existing patients and those injured by the hurricane. Thousands of homes have been flattened and residents are now sleeping in their cars. I had a call just this morning telling me this. Britain has close links with the people of Jamaica, who in the past came to help rebuild Britain during the Windrush era. Britain called and they came, so will the Government react with urgency and send not only financial aid, food and medical supplies but vital building materials, resources and construction personnel who can help rebuild the homes and hospitals that are so desperately needed now?

The noble Baroness puts it incredibly powerfully, as I would expect her to. It really matters that people in Jamaica are not expected to live in the hardship that she describes for any longer than is necessary. Of course, we will stand with the Government of Jamaica as they respond initially, but also as they then look at what they need to do to rebuild and reconstruct. As I say, it is really important that the Government of Jamaica lead this. I know they will do a good job, and we will work alongside them to make sure that they are able to get what they need when they need it, and that the island can be rebuilt into the amazing place we all love.