Jamaica
Hurricane Melissa Relief
Program Start: October 2025
All Hands & Hearts has been on the ground in Jamaica since Category 5 Hurricane Melissa made landfall in October 2025. Our teams are now in the recovery phase, focusing on helping families rebuild safe, resilient shelter. Local workers, volunteers and AH&H staff are providing: heavy and light roof repair kits for residential homes, community trainings on Build Back Safer principles, and guidance on structural resilience to reduce future storm damage.
Disaster Profile
Hurricane Melissa made landfall as the strongest storm to ever hit Jamaica.
Hurricane Melissa, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in history, made landfall in Jamaica after days of ferocious winds and relentless surf across the Caribbean. Melissa reached Category 5 strength as it intensified steadily as it neared the western coast of Jamaica, and is tied as the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record. Moving at a crawl, the storm’s especially slow movement has left widespread destruction to homes, schools and hospitals, with flooding, wind damage and storm surge compounding the impact. Recovery is expected to take months before normalcy returns.
Communities in Melissa’s path face an unprecedented challenge, demanding immediate humanitarian support and long-term relief efforts.
Light Shelter Repair Support
For households with minor to moderate damage, this program ensures rapid restoration of safe living spaces while promoting Build Back Safer (BBS) principles. We prioritize the elderly, persons with disabilities, female-headed households, and other high-risk groups.
Heavy Shelter Repair Support
For households with significant structural damage, this program provides comprehensive repair packages with technical supervision. We’ve completed our heavy repairs deliverable, with roofing kits delivered to households in Elim, Coker, and Barton — and every recipient also gained access to Cash for Repair funds to get those materials installed.
Cash for Work Program
This program provides immediate income support to vulnerable households while improving community assets through light and heavy roof repairs. By injecting cash into communities that lost income to the storm, it supports local economic recovery, creates short-term employment for unemployed youth, and builds longer-term resilience.
Cash for Repair Program
We provide dedicated cash assistance to anyone who received a roofing kit, so they can pay for labor to install it. This turns materials into hurricane-safe roofs while getting money circulating in these small communities.
Emergency Tarping
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, emergency tarping was a top priority. Tarps served as a crucial first step, temporarily replacing roofs torn off by the storm to protect families and their belongings from frequent rains while longer-term repairs got underway.
Spotlight: Elim, Jamaica
Elim, a farming community in north St. Elizabeth, received zero support from the government or other NGOs after Melissa, despite farming — its main income source, being hit hard. We tarped 35 houses during Response, then distributed 51 heavy roofing kits during Recovery. All 51 households received Cash for Repair grants, and 46 finished repairs on time for the second payment, far higher than expected. IOM will distribute kits to the remaining assessed households we couldn’t reach.
American Express Small Business Recovery Program
Partnering with the American Express Foundation, we’ve launched a grant program providing 40 grants of $800,000 JMD each to small business owners in Jamaica recovering from Melissa.
Small Business Spotlight: Courtland Blake
Courtland handcrafts furniture for a living. Hurricane Melissa tore off his workshop roof, destroyed his electrical system, and damaged his equipment. A recovery grant helped him rebuild his roof, repair electrical infrastructure, and restore his equipment.
Build Back Safer Trainings
5,000 community members have taken part in trainings grounded in Build Back Safer principles, learning practical techniques to mitigate repeated destruction in future hurricane seasons.
Full Circle
For some, recovery means a roof tarped, materials distributed, and materials installed, all through AH&H. Donald Brown of Elim first had his roof tarped after Melissa tore it apart. We then supplied a roofing kit and, with IOM funding, covered the labor to install it. Today, Donald has a dry, safer home.
