IT'S SIX days into the hurricane season, and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) has declared that it is in a state of readiness for the period. However, investigations by The Gleaner into the preparedness of western parishes leave some questions unanswered. Some western parishes, especially St. Elizabeth, suffer from the reduced estimates of expenditure for ODPEM, which has dropped from $59.1 million during the last fiscal year to $48.4 million for this financial year.
In the event of disasters, especially flooding and fires, the Jamaica Fire Brigade, which is supposed to be the first response agency, seems grossly underprepared. This is evident especially in St. Elizabeth, where two of the four fire units serving the parish are not working. In addition, the other two units malfunction from time to time. "During the rains last week, the fire engine at the Black River Fire Station was coming from the scene of a lumberyard fire, when it broke down in waters along the Luana main road, and it has been out of service since," said Edmond Wright, Assistant Superintendent at the St. Elizabeth Fire Department. "One of the two fire units at Junction Fire Station is also down and is in need of repairs. The remaining two fire units in the parish malfunction at times and can prove quite unreliable."
The problems with the fire units in the face of flooding were exposed on Monday, when a fire engine from Manchester had to respond to flood victims in Balaclava, St. Elizabeth. To further compound the problem, the capital Black River is now without a fire engine and the closest station is in Santa Cruz, 67 kilometres away. "If the parish is suffering from a shortage of fire units due to mechanical problems, it can only be considered 75 per cent ready for the hurricane season," said Yvonne Morrison, Disaster Co-ordinator for St. Elizabeth. "In addition, the recent heavy rains which destroyed roads and other infrastructure in the parish have placed the parishes disaster preparedness response at a disadvantage." Based on estimates by the St. Elizabeth Parish Council, the recent 12 days of continuous rainfall which pelted the parish have resulted in just under $104 million in damage to roads - by far the worst of all the western parishes. In some areas such as Luana, the roads were completely devastated. "The heavy rains which have destroyed roads and other infrastructure in the parish have placed the parish's disaster preparedness response at a disadvantage," said Morrison.
Despite the many negatives, St. Elizabeth has one major positive for which it can be justly proud. The good news is that in excess of 50 per cent of the 104 shelters were approved by the Health Department and the Parish Disaster Preparedness Committee.
