Hurricane Melissa: Relief Efforts Intensify Across Caribbean

People in Jamaica are clearing up following the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa.

Two weeks after Hurricane Melissa tore through the Caribbean, governments and aid agencies are still struggling to reach communities left without homes, healthcare, and basic services, as damage assessments in Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti continue to rise, the UN said on Tuesday.

In Cuba, more than 54,000 people remain displaced, including 7,500 staying in official shelters, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The scale of the destruction is now significantly higher than initial estimates, with more than 600 health facilities and 90,000 homes affected.

UN agencies are supporting national response efforts, having assisted about 140,000 people in shelters and community kitchens, and distributed agricultural tools and livestock feed to help restore livelihoods. They are also supplying equipment to strengthen disease control and prevention efforts and delivering medical supplies to reinforce reproductive health services, including maternal care.

In Jamaica, access to isolated communities is improving but remains precarious. Only two communities are still unreachable – down from 27 last week – though additional rainfall could limit access again. Shelter remains a critical concern, with around 40,000 tarpaulins still undelivered due to blocked and damaged roads. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has so far assisted 9,000 people in the hardest-hit areas of Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth and plans to extend cash assistance to up to 90,000 households as conditions allow.

In Haiti, where Hurricane Melissa claimed more than 40 lives, humanitarian partners are scaling up operations amid extensive damage across multiple departments. The UN and its partners have distributed hygiene kits, restored electricity for vaccine refrigeration, and provided psychosocial support in schools. They are also delivering 15-day food rations to hard-hit areas in the south. In Petit Goâve, food assistance is reaching more than 40,000 people, with further distributions planned this week.

To overcome access challenges, the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) has expanded operations with five new access points to reach isolated communities.

Philippines: Response Scales Up After Back-to-Back Typhoons

In the Philippines, the WFP is ramping up emergency operations following Typhoon Kalmaegi and Super Typhoon Fung-Wong, which affected 8.3 million people and displaced more than 1.4 million across Luzon, the country’s largest and most populous island.

Ahead of landfall, the agency delivered emergency cash transfers to over 210,000 people to help families evacuate and prepare. Since the storms, WFP has distributed 187,000 family food packs—enough to sustain nearly one million people for several days. Telecommunications units and generators have also been deployed to restore connectivity, while logistics teams continue to support relief efforts across 14 provinces.

Arnaud Peral, the UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines, told the UN on Tuesday that government-led preparedness and early warning systems—fully supported by UN agencies—played a key role in reducing casualties and ensuring faster relief delivery.