Description:

Join us for a talk by Buffett Visiting Scholar Georgia Rose, as she explores the psychology behind the Jamaican people in the aftermath of major disasters and their ensuing tragedies.

On October 28, 2025, Hurricane Melissa with windspeeds in excess of 185 mph made landfall on the small Caribbean Island of Jamaica. In the aftermath, over thirty inhabitants died and an estimated JMD$9 billion remained in damages with over 25,000 people displaced. Three days later, people returned to work, the major airport reopened, and businesses resumed some semblance of operation. Resilience or survival?

Professor Rose is hosted at Northwestern by the Roberta Buffett Institute in partnership with the Weinberg College Center for International and Area Studies and the Program of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Professor Rose is a Lecturer for the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the West Jamaica campus of the University of the West Indies, where she also coordinates the Undergraduate Psychology Program. Additionally, she is the Senior Clinical Psychologist employed by the Western Regional Health Authority and has provided mental health services for over 19 years in the Western Region. She is a past Board Member of the Peace Management Initiative of St. James and a consultant to the Ethics Review Board for Kidney Transplants in Western Jamaica and Bariatric Surgery Team. She previously served as Chair of the St. James Red Cross, and has conducted numerous psychosocial support trainings across the Caribbean on behalf of the International Federation of the Red Cross's Disaster Mental Health Unit, with a focus on the impact of trauma on children and adolescents.

This talk is organized by the Roberta Buffett Institute and co-sponsored by the Weinberg College Center for International and Area Studies and the Program of Latin American and Caribbean Studies.