StJMC to step up surveillance in disaster preparedness drive
Published:Wednesday | March 30, 2022 | 12:09 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE ST James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) has warned businesses in the parish of increased monitoring to ensure that corporate disaster readiness plans are on par with the authority’s own response and management system.
Deputy mayor of Montego Bay, Richard Vernon, made the declaration following an earthquake drill held at the St James Infirmary in the Second City on Monday.
The drill was part of a series of disaster-preparedness exercises at more than 20 locations, including businesses and tourism sites, across St James.
“Once we have finalised the disaster plan for the parish and everything is in effect, we will be ensuring that we monitor the businesses in Montego Bay to ensure their disaster plans are in place. We cannot risk having a disaster and not being able to respond,” Vernon told The Gleaner.
He urged business operators to establish built-in monitoring and evaluation systems and not to depend solely on the Government for support in the event of disaster.
“You must know to evacuate and know how to find the nearest assembly point and to put the necessary systems in place to reduce the risks associated with any disaster you might be faced with,” said the deputy mayor.
He was less bullish, however, on the prospect of sanctions for non-compliance, saying cautiously that stipulations and penalties for breaches were under review.
While noting that the Disaster Risk Management Act gives the municipal corporation certain investigative authority, Vernon said it was “not 100 per cent clear” whether the legislation gave the StJMC scope to impose fines.
Disaster compliance within St James, and Montego Bay in particular, is crucial as the Atlantic hurricane season nears. It runs from June 1 to November 30.
But storms are not the only threats that have pounded the western city.
There have been several instances of flooding in the downtown district dating back more than four years ago.
In November 2017, sections of Montego Bay and other surrounding communities experienced mass flooding and infrastructural damage after four hours of rainfall, resulting in scores of people being stranded.
That experience was repeated in January 2021 when flood rains trapped motorists along the Long Hill roadway and, in November that year, compromised the Cornwall Courts sewerage system and left communities such as Green Pond, Unity Hall, and Albion impassable.
An earthquake that rocked the entire island on March 1, 1957, resulting in four deaths in the parish and damage to the St James Parish Church’s clock tower, as well as bridges and utility poles.
In the meantime, Tamoy Sinclair, disaster coordinator for St James, said that the StJMC wants to mount a disaster-readiness drive, including the installation of emergency sirens.
“At the municipal corporation, we are actively seeking funding through our Local Sustainable Development Programme to initiate a parishwide disaster plan, in addition to having emergency sirens being placed at two identified locations within the parish,” said Sinclair.
“We have approached several entities and international donors and so we are currently in the process of seeking funding to have those plans in place.”