Ivan’s Fury: Jamaica Devastated, the Diaspora Responds

Quarterly Jamaica Windrush & Diaspora Update | Published: 3 January 2005 | Period covered: July–December 2004

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Key Developments at a Glance

• Hurricane Ivan strikes Jamaica on 10–11 September 2004 with Category 4 force; Cayman Islands and Grenada severely hit.
• Caribbean diaspora in Britain mobilises for relief; High Commissions and community organisations coordinate fundraising.
• Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004 receives Royal Assent; community groups warn of serious harm.
• UK deportation flights to Jamaica continue throughout autumn; numbers of removals rise under the new framework.
• PJ Patterson attends UN General Assembly; raises Caribbean concerns on climate vulnerability and debt relief.
• London’s 2012 Olympic bid gathers pace; Black British athletes and Caribbean heritage in sport gain public visibility.

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The Caribbean diaspora in Britain is accustomed to holding multiple worlds simultaneously — the daily business of life in Britain and the unending concern for the island and the people left behind. The second half of 2004 demands that dual attention with unusual urgency. In September, Hurricane Ivan — one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in recorded history — traverses Jamaica with Category 4 force, destroying an estimated 18,000 homes, causing two deaths directly, and inflicting damage that the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management estimated at more than 900 million US dollars. The diaspora in Britain responds immediately, through church collections, community fundraising, High Commission appeals, and the personal remittances that flow between the two worlds whenever crisis strikes. Back in London, a new immigration Act has passed that the community views with deep concern.

Hurricane Ivan: Jamaica in Crisis

Hurricane Ivan formed in the eastern Atlantic in early September 2004 and intensified rapidly as it tracked west-northwest across the Caribbean. By the time it struck Jamaica on the night of 10–11 September, it had reached Category 4 status, with sustained winds of more than 130 miles per hour. The storm made landfall on the island’s south coast and swept across Jamaica from south to north, leaving a trail of devastation that included the near-total destruction of roofing across large areas, flooding of low-lying communities, damage to schools, hospitals, and public buildings, and severe losses in agriculture. The banana crop — a critical source of income for rural Jamaicans — was particularly badly affected.

Ivan also struck the Cayman Islands with ferocious force, causing damage equivalent to a significant portion of the islands’ GDP, and Grenada, where it caused near-total devastation of the island’s infrastructure and housing stock. The broader Caribbean context reinforced the message that had already been delivered by the 2004 hurricane season — which also saw Charley, Frances, and Jeanne strike the region — that Caribbean nations are on the front line of climate vulnerability without having contributed meaningfully to the carbon emissions that are intensifying tropical storms. CARICOM heads of government have made this point at international forums repeatedly; the response from major emitting nations has been inadequate.

The response from the Caribbean diaspora in Britain was rapid and generous. Community organisations, churches, the Jamaica High Commission, and the Cayman Islands Government London Office all launched appeals that reached Jamaica within days. Practical support — in the form of clothing, tools, building materials, and financial transfers — was organised through networks that had been built up over decades of community solidarity. Prime Minister PJ Patterson thanked the diaspora specifically for its response, recognising that the flow of support from communities in Britain, North America, and elsewhere was reaching communities faster than official aid in some cases.

The Asylum and Immigration Act 2004: New Restrictions

The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004, which received Royal Assent on 22 July 2004, represents the latest in a series of immigration and asylum Acts passed by the Blair government since 1999. The Act’s provisions include new powers to restrict the right to support for asylum seekers whose claims have been rejected, new offences relating to the possession of documents without reasonable excuse, and measures to streamline the removal of those whose claims have failed. It also introduces new requirements relating to the integration of biometric data into immigration processes and expands the powers of immigration officers.

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Amnesty International, and Caribbean community legal organisations have raised concerns about several provisions of the Act that they believe will affect not only recent arrivals but established Caribbean communities. The restrictions on legal challenge and the changes to the asylum support framework are of direct concern to those advising community members who have become caught up in the immigration system despite having lived in Britain for many years. The Act is seen as part of a pattern in which the government’s desire to demonstrate toughness on immigration leads it to legislate in ways that are disproportionate in their impact on the most vulnerable.

Jamaica and the Caribbean in the World

In the autumn of 2004, PJ Patterson attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he used Jamaica’s platform to raise concerns shared across the Caribbean: the vulnerability of small island developing states to climate change and natural disaster; the burden of debt that constrains the capacity of Caribbean governments to invest in their people; and the continuing injustice of agricultural subsidies in rich countries that undermine Caribbean exporters competing in international markets. These are arguments that the Jamaican diaspora in Britain endorses and amplifies through its own advocacy and through the relationships it maintains with British politicians and civil society organisations.

The broader context of British politics in this period is shaped by the Iraq War, which continues to consume political energy and public trust in the Blair government. The Caribbean community’s engagement with the anti-war movement — rooted in a post-colonial tradition that is deeply sceptical of Western military interventionism — has been significant. Community organisations participated in the February 2003 marches and continue to press the government to account for its decisions. As a general election approaches in 2005, the war remains a live issue that will affect how the Caribbean community votes and what it demands from politicians seeking its support.

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Sources: Jamaica Information Service; The Gleaner; Jamaica Observer; Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM); Caribbean National Weekly; New Nation; BBC News; Reuters; AP; The Guardian; Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants; Amnesty International UK; CARICOM Secretariat; Jamaica High Commission London; Home Office (UK); House of Commons Hansard.

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