Orville Taylor | Beryl and ill winds that blow no good

A shade lighter than emerald green, she is transparent and a strange mix of silicate of beryllium and aluminium, with strong and weak elements that cause breaks along her flaws. Names may not mean anything when it comes to hurricanes and tropical cyclones. However, sometimes there is a macabre connection, though unintended, between the name and the impact.

This precious gem was believed by ancient Europeans to keep away evil spirits, generate love and spousal happiness, increase sincerity, protect travellers from danger, cure laziness, and facilitate and maintain youthfulness. A reputed sage ground it into a powder to treat eye maladies. Ostensibly, Beryl might help those with impaired vision to see clearly and the lazy to work together.

Sometimes names are self-fulfilling prophecies. Merely a tropical storm, the 2008 Gustav marauded the island. At least 12 persons died and close to 2,000 homes were destroyed, with some US$210 million in damage. For reference, Gustav, a man-eating Nile crocodile roaming between the Ruzizi River and Lake Tanganyika in Burundi, Africa, is believed to have killed and consumed between 250 and 300 humans, and counting. Perhaps a sick naming joke by the international meteorologists, the film Primeval, based on his exploits, was released just the year before.

Nevertheless, tropical cyclones, or even waves, whenever they hit Jamaica, always have major consequences for the incumbent government, even if it has masterly handled the crisis. In “51 storm, mi neva born!” But Hurricane Charlie came that year, reducing thousands of Jamaicans, including my dear mother, to zero possessions; and she was one of the lucky ones. At least 150 persons were killed while Charlie left more than US$50 million in damages.

UNWELCOMED GUEST

Arriving unwelcomed in August, with 205 kilometres per hour winds, it was the strongest hurricane in modern history to have hit us at that time. Fast-forward three years and four months and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) was swept out of power, with the People’s National Party (PNP) gaining 18 of the 32 available seats.

Sitting on the knee of Basil ‘Old Vas’ Taylor, my maternal grandfather – yes maternal – I watched while the older boys treated the tenement yard as a pool, swimming in water that looked like a blend of carrot juice and cocoa tea. But that is where the fun ended. Hurricane Flora, in October 1963, wreaked havoc on the agricultural sector, targeting St Mary, Portland, St Thomas, St Catherine and St Ann. At least 11 persons died and estimates of damage hovered around US$12 million.

Four years later, Jamaicans went to the polls but the JLP held on to its reins, winning 33 of the 53 available seats. Importantly, although the JLP gained seven additional seats, it was because the number of constituencies had been increased by the government by eight. In fact, the governing JLP got a split 50.65 per cent of the popular vote.

Jump to 1979. An undeclared civil war between factions of the PNP and JLP saw unprecedented levels of hatred by ordinary Jamaicans, based on support for parties founded by two blood relatives who loved and respected each other until death.

Improperly named Tropical Depression One, although it really was Number Two, a numeral sometimes noisome to Jamaicans, the second tropical cyclone of 1979 sneaked into Jamaica on June 12 and took its time before it left.

More than 40,000 Jamaicans were left homeless. Chigwell in Hanover and Newmarket in St Elizabeth turned into Atlantis. For more than six months, the latter looked more like the habitat of crocodylus acutus, with no electricity. Around 40 people died and US$27 million in damage resulted. Sugar cane suffered more than US$2 million, bananas around US$1 million, as part of the overall US$6 million in agricultural losses. More than 480 kilometres of roadway across the country were affected, and 13 bridges, including three collapsed ones, were compromised.

Michael Manley’s PNP government established the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management in July 1980. Manley created a housing task force, targeting 582 houses. Yet, it was simply not enough. Then, along came Hurricane Allen, in August, killing eight citizens and leaving a US$100-million bill.

Within four months, the PNP had the footprints of the electorate firmly printed on its posterior, and it was beaten so solidly by the Edward Seaga-led JLP that one would be excused for making comparisons with the West Indies cricket team versus England. The JLP won 51 of the 60 available seats.

STRONGER AND BIGGER

And along came Gilbert in 1988. Whatever, he might have been drinking, he was clearly a stronger and bigger Charlie. He stuck it to us very hard. Pretty much the entire country was without electricity. At least 80 per cent of the houses lost part of their roofs. More than US$400 million in banana exports were lost, because the entire crop of export bananas was wiped out. Adding to the food crisis, there was also widespread looting. They were dark days.

Five months later, the JLP was beaten like a burglar breaking into someone’s house, keeping only 15 of the 60 seats to the PNP’s 45.

Spared a major touch for the next decade, we were teased by myriad cyclonic systems, until Hurricane Ivan came in 2004, followed by Wilma and others in 2005. Then, in September 2007, Dean arrived and beat us up, ripping through the entire country. Despite her confidence, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller tasted her first defeat as head of the PNP. Gaining six seats, the JLP enjoyed a split in the middle 32-28 victory. Of course, Gustav visited in 2008 and was followed by an ill-timed 2011 loss for the Andrew Holness-led JLP.

Well named for the amount of sediment that it pushed from the sea and riverbeds, Hurricane Sandy touched down in 2012. Thankfully, only two persons died. However, destruction was assessed at US$100 million. Like ‘Cliff Twang’ Brown, the PNP government realised “Nobody canna cross it!”

We cannot control natural events, but we can control the way in which we respond to them. History might not be on the side of government. Yet, there is at least one case where a hit did not blow the ruling party out of power. If my suspicions are correct, everything hinges on the way in which normality can be restored to the breadbasket, St Elizabeth, and other communities which have suffered the most.

The impact will be great and Beryl might blow many jobs, including that of the government, away.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com