As I traversed the southern coastal belt on the way to the Sangster International Airport on Monday, November 3, almost one week after Hurricane Melissa struck, my heart sank on seeing the devastation that was wrought on that part of the island.

It is not hyperbolic to use the word apocalyptic to describe New Hope and other adjoining areas of Westmoreland where the hurricane landed. Apart from the physical devastation to buildings and the landscape, the emotional toll on the residents will be an ongoing concern well into the future.

There are a number of things that raced through my mind as I contemplated the emerging horror. First, was my philosophical engagement with the worldview that has driven my entire life: We are all God’s creatures; we are all created in his image and bear his divine imprint. I struggled to understand his providential care in the midst of what I saw, but refused to accept the narrative of some that the hurricane was the result of God’s punishment for the evil or sinfulness of Jamaicans.

Insurance documents speak of these events as “acts of God”, but they are, in fact, acts of nature which have bedevilled our region perhaps long before human beings emerged on the planet. One can legitimately ask: Why does God, the creator of nature itself, allow them? But I do not believe that a precise answer will ever be found to satisfy any curious mind.

In a way, these natural events are a way of nature cleansing itself. When it does speak, whether through earthquake, wind, or fire, it would behove puny human beings to get out of its way; to do everything within their power to mitigate any damage to life and property; and, at the end, stare in awe at its awesome propensities. This is what the prudent and wise person does. If you decide to test nature when it speaks in these tones, you will never win. You will fail the test. Nature wins all the time.

To say that God has a vested interest to punish us boggles the mind. It clearly is not in tune with the Christian and other religious understanding of God’s nature as one of love and mercy, whose providential purposes for humankind know no end. I was heartened by the gratitude of those who were affected and who spoke to the media of how grateful they were to God for sparing their lives and for things not being as bad as they could have been. This consciousness of God’s presence as the storm raged buttressed their will to survive and no doubt strengthened their determination to ride it out and to later rebuild. Those who do not believe in God often fail to appreciate how important this construct is in people’s will to survive.

This view of God’s goodness to us, even in the midst of tragedy, has given me a more wholistic view of every human being I meet. This view was strengthened as I saw people reaching out to those in need. The rural spirit of neighbourliness is in full spate. Our hearts must go out first to those who have lost loved ones. It is not easy to lose a loved one and then deal with the rebuilding of one’s shelter and life.

Philosophical musings aside, as we contemplate rebuilding one hopes that there will be the necessary underpinning of integrity, transparency, and professionalism in the tasks to be undertaken. This has to be so especially in the areas directly affected, where the vulnerable are most to be found.

Essential to this is that every attempt must be made to resist and punish any partisan distribution of goods and services to these areas. Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has made it clear that everything will be done to ensure that the rebuilding process is not corrupted in this way, but one is too keenly aware from past experience of the diabolical intent of the forces of political tribalism to corrupt such processes. This would not only be an insult to the intelligence of those affected, but to their personhood and well-being. Any attempt at corruption which use people as pawns in a political chess game of exploitation for personal gain must be met with the utmost legal severity when evidenced.

And it does not matter from which side of the political divide this behaviour comes. Although we are created in God’s image, one should have no illusions that too many people have allowed culture to write a text of inhumanity on their lives which move them to exploit human tragedies to their own ends. They have allowed their consciences to be disfigured and thus become monsters, especially at times when there are billions of dollars sloshing around as will be the case in the aftermath of Melissa.

Sadly, this cancer has not been fully excised from the body politic. We should not be naive in thinking that there are not dog-hearted people who will use other people’s suffering for their own enrichment. I believe these are in the minority, but as Jeremiah presciently warned, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things, who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

So let us put in place the mechanisms for accountability or many of those who need the goods and services may not get them. The highest moral probity should be the aim. The call by some groups for the real time audit of funds expended has tremendous merit and should be given serious thought by the Government.

Second, we must be students willing to learn the lessons taught by Melissa. I value the Government’s latest response to the crisis, but as I said in an earlier piece, the initial response was not stellar, and there is still a lot to be disquieted about. What do I mean by this? As I traversed the Treasure Beach area to Whitehouse into St James, six days after the storm hit, I did not come across one Jamaica Defence Force lorry taking needed supplies of water and food to the citizens. Not one ambulance passed me on the way. These are facts that I observed, which moves me to ask the question: Why? When the storm made the curve for Jamaica, we knew that a hit was likely. One would think that logistically things would have been put in place at that time in anticipation of the worst happening. Bottled water, food stuff, tents, primary medical supplies could have been moved to say Mandeville for rapid deployment to the affected areas.

What is clear is that the hurricane has shown up some serious flaws in our preparation for disasters of this kind. We have to do better planning in anticipation of them. There needs to be greater coordination between central government and local government authorities in this exercise. It is at the level of local government through the municipal authorities that the best synergies can be achieved to deal more effectively with these acts of nature. But they need to be properly funded and given robust support by the central authorities.

We must be careful not to see every criticism of the recovery effort as impugning the integrity of the Government. In the same breath, however, we must roundly condemn those who criticise in order to make mischief or to spread lies and propaganda to benefit particular agendas. Some of the misinformation and downright lies that are being spewed over social media must not be countenanced by well-thinking Jamaicans. They must be condemned for what they are, because in the end they do greater damage to people’s lives, especially those who are already suffering the indignities heaped upon them by Melissa. Many of them know better and we should all strive to do better for the good of our country.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms; The Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life; and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. He hosts a podcast — Mango Tree Dialogues — on his YouTube channel. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.

Raulston Nembhard