Stacy-ann Robinson

1 Introduction In geography, smallness is increasingly understood as a relational condition whose meaning is produced through social and political processes rather than by territorial scale, population size or economic activities alone (Lowenthal 1992; Nimführ and Otto 2021; Pugh 2016).

CORRESPONDENCE 06 January 2026 When the category-5 storm Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica in October, its path crossed communities that had varying levels of preparedness. Many with maintained coastal protections, upgraded drainage and reliable early-warning systems had power and water restored in days. Others were immobilized for weeks.

Jamaica has invested tens of millions of dollars in bolstering coastal defenses by planting mangroves, building seawalls and strengthening urban infrastructure. It wasn’t close to enough to withstand Hurricane Melissa’s 185-mile-an-hour winds and 13-foot storm surge that destroyed thousands of homes, washed away roads and bridges, flooded farm fields and took down the electrical grid.