DAILY CARTOON: Covered? Barely.

A year after Hurricane Melissa, many Jamaicans who paid their premiums are finding that their policies cover only part of what it costs to rebuild.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, 27 October 2026

The story behind the cartoon

In today’s cartoon, a family huddles under an umbrella marked Insurance while the storm tears the zinc off their roof. They did the right thing and bought cover, but the umbrella is so full of holes that the rain comes straight through. It is a picture many policyholders will recognise as the first anniversary of Hurricane Melissa arrives on 28 October.

The Insurance Association of Jamaica has estimated that only about 20 per cent of residential properties in Jamaica are insured, and that roughly 95 per cent of those insured properties are underinsured. In other words, most of the homeowners who did buy a policy are protected for less than it would cost to rebuild.

What Melissa revealed

The claims bear that out. The Group Chief Executive Officer of General Accident Insurance Company Jamaica told an investor forum in May that seven of every 10 Melissa claims the company received were underinsured. The Chief Executive Officer of IronRock Insurance said half of its claims were underinsured, by an average of 75 per cent, the Jamaica Observer reported in July.

The scale of the damage makes those gaps hard to absorb. Losses from the hurricane reached J$1.95 trillion, or US$12.2 billion, according to a joint assessment by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, as cited in the Gleaner on 21 October. That is about four times the cost of Hurricane Gilbert.

How the average clause works

Most property policies carry a condition of average. When a home is insured for less than its full replacement value, the insurer reduces the payout in the same proportion. A house that would cost J$40 million to rebuild but is insured for J$16 million is treated as 40 per cent insured, so a J$10 million repair claim would pay about J$4 million before any deductible. The owner has to find the rest.

This example is for illustration only. Actual payouts depend on the terms of each policy.

In a June advisory, the Financial Services Commission said it had requested detailed Melissa claims data from general insurers and was carrying out a focused review of issues arising from the use of the average clause in underinsurance cases.

What homeowners can do

The insurance association has urged owners to check the sum insured and valuation date on their policies, get a current professional valuation and speak with their insurer or broker about updating cover. Anyone who has rebuilt, extended or repaired since the storm should make sure the policy reflects what the house would cost to rebuild today, not what it was worth when the policy was first written.

A policy only protects you up to the figure on the page. Make sure that figure is today’s.