Poor practices stunting Jamaica's growth, says ODPEM head

The head of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) says the country's economic growth is being retarded because poor development practices have sent relief and reconstruction costs associated with flood events soaring in recent years.

Ronald Jackson, ODPEM's director general, in underscoring his point, said the country suffered losses totalling $20.5 billion from the rains associated with Tropical Storm Nicole last year, compared with a total of $70.7 billion in losses which resulted from six storm events between 2002 and 2007.

"Over the years, we are continually challenged with having to divert scarce resources earmarked for development projects to deal with disaster relief, reconstruction and long-term recovery, thereby retarding economic growth," Jackson lamented.

"We are in a spiral. We are going down a slippery slope and we need to watch that," warned Jackson, who was speaking at the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Kingston held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew yesterday.

squatting among problems

Some of the poor development practices he listed include poor land use and garbage disposal and squatting.

The ODPEM director general said the storm events between 2002 and 2007 were "near misses" and rainfall events, but calculated that the losses over the period represented an average 3.2 per cent of Jamaica's gross domestic product (GDP).

"In the context of a country that is really struggling to establish a one per cent growth, 3.2 per cent of GDP is very significant," he argued.

Jackson suggested that there have to be changes in the way developments are undertaken in Jamaica, arguing that "we must not repeat the mistakes of the past".

state must oversee

Amid the changes, he insisted that the State must remain a "major actor", ensuring that the rule of law, enforcement mechanisms and planning guidelines are observed.

"For every new development coming on stream, we must build them better, we must build them to be more sustainable and we must build them to be more resilient," he asserted.

Jackson said ODPEM was also moving to shift its focus from simply guiding the country's relief effort to building what it called "disaster resilient communities".

Arguing that this approach only yields temporary results, he said prevention mitigation activities must become the order of the day.

"I will never have enough blankets and tarpaulins given the level of vulnerability in the country, and I should not because that is chasing good money after a bad approach," he explained.

"We really should be reversing that trajectory in terms of driving down the number of persons who are vulnerable, thereby having just the right amount to lead that national response."