The Ground Moves. The Wind Blows. Jamaica Builds Again.

There is a particular stillness that follows an earthquake.

It’s different from the silence after a hurricane. After a storm, the wind dies down slowly. You hear zinc rattling somewhere in the distance, a generator coughing to life, a dog barking at nothing in particular. But after an earthquake, the silence is abrupt. The shaking stops. And for a few seconds, you stand there — unsure whether to move, unsure whether it’s truly over.

In recent years, Jamaicans have become far too familiar with both.

We endured Hurricane Hurricane Beryl. We pushed through Hurricane Melissa the following year. We rebuilt. We reopened. We reset. And now, as experts remind us that Jamaica must brace for more seismic activity, we find ourselves once again in that space between impact and response.

But this is not a warning.

This is a conversation about preparation.

Because if Jamaica is rebuilding — and in many places we are — then we must ask a deeper question: are we rebuilding for the last disaster, or for the…