Dear Editor,

There is something unmistakably Jamaican about how we respond to hurricanes, and Hurricane Matthew was no different.

Almost every tropical storm/hurricane sighting starts with an initial scepticism and recounting of previous failed forecasts by the Meteorological Service. As the system gets closer to Jamaica, the number of

sceptics slowly dwindles. And then when the hurricane is one or two days away there is a mad rush to supermarkets and wholesales. Customers duel over bread, crackers and canned food. Mothers and grandmothers have massive cook-outs of all those delicious meats they had been saving up. Port Royal residents, too, display their contempt for weather forecasters and refuse to relocate, preferring to sink with their ships.

One can expect “Hurricane Culture” to come into full swing every time without fail. I mean, who doesn’t love the sound of last-minute battening down and the sweet smell of kerosene lamps?

An unfortunate aspect of our Hurricane Culture, however, is that it demonstrates how our Government has failed those among us who are homeless. Where, in our rush to beat our bakery aisle rivals to the last six loaves of bread on the shelves, do we stop to consider the homeless men and women whom we, including myself, routinely ignore on our way to school, work, etc? These people who regularly sleep on concrete sidewalks on thin pieces of cardboard with hardly any shelter are made especially vulnerable during hurricane season. What exactly is the long-term policy and/or strategy to provide shelter for those people who find themselves dispossessed and destitute? Successive governments have managed to skirt around the issue of homelessness.

Even though they have agreed at the international level that all Jamaicans have the right to social security and safety nets when they are vulnerable, they have not done enough for the homeless. Where in the grand schemes for national development, macroeconomic growth and job creation is there consideration for the homeless? And if there is consideration, where in that is there evidence of a reduction in the level of homelessness?

Has the Government given thought to those people who are most affected by displacement and the special measures that need to be taken to remedy their situation? Pregnant teens, people with mental health challenges, the indigent and LGBT people are at heightened risk for the displacement. How will our government address their realities?

Half of the year is spent with the knowledge that a tropical storm or hurricane could ravage the island within days. Within this context, homelessness is not an issue that should be easily avoided. A nation cannot be “prepared” for a disaster when there are those among us who are virtually ignored by the Government.

Glenroy Murray

glenroy.am.murray@gmail.com