Seventeen people lost their lives as a direct result of Hurricane Ivan.
October 27, 2025
Lessons from Ivan
Dear Editor,
Hurricane Ivan, 2004, was a slow mover like Melissa. He didn’t touch down ‘in person’ on Jamaican soil. He simply rested for about 12 hours south of the island. But he did immense harm.
According to a report, 17 deaths were his direct doing, 14 indirectly, and hundreds of millions of dollars of damage and much human dislocation. Wind and rain were plentiful, of course.
However, the chief source of a large part of Ivan’s hurt was elsewhere. It was people’s failure, especially those on the south side of the island, to take the precautions that then Prime Minister PJ Patterson urged.
We don’t yet know what Melissa will do. But we can still learn from Ivan.
Horace Levy
halpeace.levy@gmail.com
