Hurricane Melissa: How to Help

What are the greatest needs? | Donate | Our history in the region

Hurricane Melissa is the strongest recorded hurricane to ever hit Jamaica and caused widespread damage, landslides, and flooding across the Caribbean.

Project HOPE’s Emergency Response Team is on the ground providing critical health and humanitarian relief to the most affected communities. Read on to learn more about how you can help. 

>> Read our latest Situation Report

How Project HOPE is responding to Hurricane Melissa?

Project HOPE is on the ground in Jamaica distributing urgently needed food, water, and hygiene items and equipping health workers with medical supplies and the support they need to continue caring for their communities. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, Project HOPE has seen extensive damage to hospitals and urgent health, water, hygiene, and mental health needs. Entire communities have been marooned by floods and landslides, with 44,000 people displaced across the region.

Our initial distributions in directly affected areas of Jamaica include bottled water, food, items for infants, and hygiene kits filled with diapers, body wipes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, soap, and shampoo.

In Jamaica, Project HOPE will be expanding its response in the coming weeks in St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland, St. James, and Trelawney by: 

• Establishing health clinics and mobile medical units to ensure access to primary care and psychological first aid services 
• Conducting water trucking to communities with damaged water infrastructure
• Distributing hygiene kits and essential supplies, in partnership with community-led organizations and health facilities 
• Providing mental health and resiliency training to frontline responders, including hospital staff, community leaders, and local organizations 
• Delivering urgently needed medical supplies, equipment, and pharmaceuticals 

Melissa’s damage is still being uncovered across the Caribbean and our team is working around the clock to meet the most urgent needs.

Project HOPE is in close communication with the National Emergency Operations Center and the Ministry of Health and Wellness to assess the impact of the storm on health facilities. Medical teams and mobile medical units will soon be deployed to provide surge support and bolster the health system as health workers grapple with significant damage.
 
In the Dominican Republic, our team is procuring urgently needed mosquito nets, potable water containers, and hygiene kits to assist affected communities after the storm damaged 13 health facilities and disrupted 32 water supply systems.

In Haiti, 14,000 people have been displaced, dozens have died, and widespread flooding has left communities unrecognizable. Our team on the ground in Haiti is procuring relief items, coordinating with local responders, and conducting rapid needs assessments to reach people with support as soon as possible.

>> PRESS RELEASE: Responding to Hurricane Melissa’s Catastrophic Impact on the Caribbean

What are the greatest health needs? 

Jamaica’s health infrastructure has been devastated, with the Pan American Health Organization describing the situation as one of Jamaica’s most severe crises in recent memory. Hospitals and health workers are being pushed to the brink, with hospital shelves empty, services disrupted, and staff working for days without rest. The storm’s destruction threatens to overwhelm the health system and disrupt essential services.

Multiple hospitals have been damaged, including Black River Hospital, which lost part of its roof during the storm.

“Health workers have been working for days with no rest. They are beyond exhausted and in desperate need of mental health support, but they continue to work because they know their patients need them. Now, we must have their backs.”

– Christine Lathrop, Senior Program Officer, Emergency Response

The total extent of casualties remains unknown as first responders contend with power outages and blocked roads. The storm is already responsible for over 60 deaths and casualties across Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.

In emergencies like these, people in vulnerable positions are at a significantly increased risk of harm. Pregnant women, children, older adults, and people with disabilities and chronic health conditions are uniquely affected by power outages, displacement, the potential disruption to clean water infrastructure, loss of access to health care, and the extreme heat that has since hit the region.

The most urgent needs in Jamaica include clean water, hygiene supplies, psychological first aid, medical supplies, and essential items so that families who have lost everything can begin to rebuild their lives. 

“People in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic are waking up in a world they don’t recognize. On top of the trauma they’ve endured over this past week, so many have no homes to return to. Health workers and emergency responders will be working around the clock, and Project HOPE is committed to supporting them and impacted communities over the coming days, weeks, and months.”

–Chessa Latifi, Deputy Director of Emergency Preparedness & Response

Hurricanes have ripple effects that can resonate through health systems and communities for years, with marginalized communities and people in vulnerable positions feeling the impacts the most. Major damage to infrastructure, trauma, mental health issues, and the loss of prescriptions and medications are just a few of the lasting health impacts a powerful hurricane can cause. 

Where did Hurricane Melissa make landfall?  

Hurricane Melissa made landfall near New Hope, Jamaica on Tuesday, October 28 at 1:05pm ET as a Category 5 hurricane, bringing 185 mph winds, dangerous amounts of rain, and storm surge up to 13 feet along the coastline. Initial impacts included flooded roads, damaged homes, and more than 240,000 million people without power.

When was the last time Jamaica experienced a hurricane this powerful? 

Hurricane Melissa was the strongest storm on the planet this year and is tied with the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane as the strongest hurricane in 170+ years of recorded Atlantic history. In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica as a Category 3 hurricane, and the country has never experienced a Category 4 or stronger storm until now. 

What is Project HOPE’s history in the region? 

Project HOPE provided medical humanitarian assistance and improved access to health care in Jamaica throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 1971, the SS HOPE docked in Jamaica during a deployment throughout the Caribbean training paramedical staff, pharmacy technicians and radiologists while caring for patients who waited years for surgeries and complex medical care. From 1976-1979, Project HOPE helped the Ministry of Health establish a training program that graduated 46 nurse practitioners in its first class. In 1988, Project HOPE responded to Hurricane Gilbert in Jamaica — which impacted a quarter of the population — by helping to rebuild and rehabilitate the two largest care and referral health centers, the University Hospital of the West Indies and Bustamante Children’s Hospital. 

Project HOPE began working in the Dominican Republic in 1996, aiming to increase access to affordable, quality care for women, newborns, and children in underserved communities. Over the past two decades, we have donated millions of dollars worth of vaccines, medicines, and pharmaceutical supplies to the Ministry of Health, which have been distributed to health facilities across the country. We have also led community outreach on HIV/AIDS and the Zika virus. During the COVID-19 pandemic, with support from partners, Project HOPE distributed personal protective equipment, provided virtual trainings, and ramped up contact tracing to support local health workers. 

Project HOPE’s work in Haiti began in 1984, through a US Government project to develop clinical laboratory capacity at the University Hospital in Port-au-Prince. Afterwards, our programs have focused on emergency and disaster response, increasing access to primary health care, addressing maternal health needs, building the capacity of frontline health workers through training, and the provision of medical commodities to ensure free access to care. In 2016, Project HOPE responded to Hurricane Matthew by deploying medical volunteers and shipping critical supplies to strengthen the country’s cold chain.

Project HOPE has a long history of responding to hurricanes and has recently provided primary health care support, essential health and hygiene supplies, hurricane preparedness trainings, and mental health services to frontline workers following hurricanes Dorian, Ian, Idalia, Helene, and Milton.