What Hurricane Melissa Taught Us about Collaboration

Few things make salient our shared humanity quite like a disaster does. When lives are at stake, the difficulties of our differences can fall away, and we are reminded that we are each a drop in one great ocean, vulnerable to the same forces and dependent on one another in ways we can often forget when life is comfortable. Disasters bring back into clear view that it could just as easily have happened to us, and if it did, it is our fellow human beings who would show up to help us through — it is upon us to show up for them as well.

When Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica on October 28, 2025, this human impulse unfolded for us through an extraordinary collaboration. What began as an effort to convene people around disaster risk management became an opportunity to put those conversations into practice. Almost a year later, as we reflect on the response and the work that has followed, we are reminded that the most enduring outcome was not only the data we collected or the systems we established. It was the knowledge we gained about how we can work together to respond better when disaster strikes.

The Necessary Pivot

In the months before Hurricane Melissa made landfall, Jamaica Flying Labs, WeRobotics, and Esri had been working together with partners to organise the first Caribbean edition of the Drones, AI, and GIS for Disaster Risk Management Conference and Workshop. The event was intended to bring together disaster management practitioners, government agencies, and technology partners to explore how geospatial technologies could strengthen preparedness and response.

Then Melissa struck, bringing catastrophic winds, flooding, and widespread destruction to Jamaica. We postponed the conference, and our attention shifted immediately to the urgent needs on the ground. There was a certain irony in the turn of events: a conference, the kind of event often perceived as corporatized and removed from the realities of everyday people, had to demonstrate its relevance before it could even take place. 

In the days that followed, Jamaica Flying Labs was entrusted by the Government of Jamaica and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) with leading the drone response. Working alongside government agencies and emergency responders, the team coordinated aerial data collection to support damage assessments and recovery planning. On our part, we focused on coordination and collaboration. WeRobotics helped mobilize and coordinate the wider Flying Labs Network and international partners, while Esri provided the GIS infrastructure and technical resources needed to organize operations and manage data. Our joint response brought together drone pilots, technology companies, civil society organizations, academia, government agencies, and regional organizations who contributed their expertise, equipment, software, and time. 

It was a significant effort. And it was made possible by relationships that had been established long before the first meetings we held.

Collaborative Response Begins Before the Crisis.

When Hurricane Melissa struck, we did not have to begin by figuring out whether we could work together. We already had a common purpose, established communication channels, and relationships through which we could coordinate our efforts. We could pivot quickly because we had been preparing to collaborate, even if we had not anticipated the circumstances in which we would need to do so.

Just as importantly, we shared a commitment to an approach in which local expertise leads and global partners provide support. As Jamaica Flying Labs brought the local knowledge, relationships, and the operational expertise needed to guide the response, WeRobotics and the Flying Labs Network, Esri, and other partners rallied around them, contributing resources and technical capabilities in response to the needs they identified on the ground. It was proof that locally led, globally supported collaboration can be put into practice, even under the immense pressure of a major disaster.

The response also showed what such collaboration requires: coordination systems that allow people to work across organizations, clear roles and responsibilities, trusted relationships, and an unwavering commitment to putting the needs of the affected communities first. We learned as we went, and we documented it all, with the understanding that it would become a valuable resource that response efforts in countries could draw on and adapt.

Bringing the Experience to the Conference

In May 2026, we returned to Montego Bay for the conference we had postponed. This time, we arrived with the experience of Hurricane Melissa behind us. The conversations about disaster preparedness, drone operations, geospatial data, and emergency coordination were now grounded in the practical realities of a response that had tested our systems, challenged our assumptions, and revealed where more preparation was needed.

Over three days, participants from across the Caribbean and Central America explored how drones, GIS, and artificial intelligence could support disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. They also examined the institutional foundations that make these technologies useful: trained people, established protocols, interoperable data systems, reliable communication infrastructure, and sustained investment.

One lesson stood out. Often, the challenge is not the absence of technology but the absence of the coordination systems needed to use it effectively when time is critical. A drone can collect imagery, but that imagery must be processed, shared, and translated into information that responders can act on. People must agree on how to use the data and who is responsible for making decisions — even the best systems depend on relationships that allow different organizations to work towards the same goals.

The conference gave us — both those who had experienced the response and others who could help translate its lessons into stronger regional preparedness — a space to reflect collectively on what we had learned and imagine how that knowledge could serve us in the future.

What We Carry Forward

The people of Jamaica continue to rebuild. We hold them in our prayers and continue to offer the support we can. 

As for us as we look back on our response, we are grateful to everyone who made it possible: Jamaica Flying Labs and the Jamaican government agencies that led the response, the Flying Labs Network, our technology partners, local and international organizations, and volunteer drone pilots. We are equally grateful for the relationships strengthened and new connections made through the response and the conference. We know that these relationships are not incidental to the work. They are part of the people infrastructure that makes effective collaboration possible, and they will continue to create opportunities for shared learning and action.

The experience has been informing our work on the Drones for Disaster Response Blueprint, a solution for coordinating locally led, globally supported drone responses after major floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. Its aim is to help local drone ecosystems prepare before a crisis, with workflows, coordination mechanisms, and technical resources that can be adapted to their own contexts. Rather than starting from scratch after a disaster, local responders and their partners should be able to draw on systems that have already been documented, tested, and refined. 

The Melissa response allowed us to create a minimum viable product (MVP) of the Blueprint. The relationships and conference allowed us to gather detailed feedback on how to improve it. As a next step, we will evolve the MVP into a more robust solution. Working with the same government, civil society and technology partners as during Hurricane Melissa, we will then live-test this solution to further improve it. It is then ready to start its journey across continents and oceans, to be scaled to other Flying Labs and their government and civil society partners for adoption. 

The next disaster will come. We cannot always know where or when. But we can choose what we build together before it does. If you would like to support the development of the Drones for Disaster Response Blueprint or are interested in using it, we would love to have a conversation.