Fewer shelters this hurricane season

THE NUMBER of shelters for the 2011 hurricane season has been significantly reduced.

Kingston's mayor, Senator Desmond McKenzie, told the Upper House on Friday that the Government had opted for better-quality facilities called "priority shelters".

"These shelters are going to be brought up to standard, and people will feel a little bit more comfortable leaving their homes and spending some time in these shelters. The facilities have to be approved as good enough to shelter people, not to force people into situations like classrooms, because classrooms were never built to facilitate persons in times of disasters," he said.

McKenzie, in his presentation, argued strongly in support of mandatory evacuations and a mandatory-evacuation policy, contending that people in facilities must have proper security to ensure the safety of individuals, and to prevent molestation, threats, and possibly rape and robbery while in the shelters.

He said communities which individuals have evacuated must also be secured to allow evacuees to feel safe leaving their property behind.