Hurricane Melissa” devastates Jamaica – Red Cross calls for urgent donations!

Hurricane Melissa” devastates Jamaica – Red Cross calls for urgent donations!

On October 28, 2025, Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica with full force and is already considered the strongest storm to hit the country in the 21st century. With wind gusts of over 300 km/h, more than 1.5 million people are directly affected. Gerald Creator, President of the Austrian Red Cross, said that the full extent of the destruction cannot yet be predicted and that many people, including families who were only able to recover from Hurricane Beryl, which struck 16 months ago, have lost everything. Given these devastating circumstances, rapid support is called for to prevent further suffering.

The Red Cross's relief operation has already begun. In the Caribbean and Latin America, Red Cross teams are on high alert and are contributing to emergency relief. Around 400 volunteers in Jamaica actively support evacuations and store urgently needed relief supplies. These include clean drinking water, blankets, emergency shelter materials and hygiene kits. In addition, around 880 emergency shelters have been set up for the worst affected areas to provide people with temporary shelter.

Activation of the global Red Cross network

Hundreds of employees are ready to provide first aid. To quickly provide the necessary resources, the global Red Cross network was activated and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Disaster Relief Fund made 80,000 Swiss francs available. The Red Cross is therefore asking for donations in order to be able to continue the relief efforts and quickly help the affected people.

In the context of humanitarian aid, it is important to mention how organizations such as the German Red Cross (DRK) implement proactive approaches to protect people from impending disasters. While this is not directly related to the current disaster in Jamaica, it illustrates the advanced methods used in humanitarian response to mitigate suffering in advance. The Forecast-based Financing (FbF) approach, which has been in development since 2014 and is supported by the Federal Foreign Office, enables early mitigation measures based on weather and climate data.

This forward-looking approach enabled nearly 12.8 million people to be reached through preventive crisis reduction activities in 2023. Early warning systems and thresholds determine when aid is made available. This could serve as a role model that can help organizations act even more specifically and efficiently in future disasters.