THE EDITOR, Sir:AS THE citizens of the Ten-Eleven Miles Bull Bay area continue to live in the ruins and shambles left by the September 29, 2002 flooding, caused by the overflow of the Bull Park River, their already miserable lives were jerked with further fear and panic a couple of nights ago when thunders rumbled and lightning flashed in and around the vicinity of the community.
It is unfortunate that every time it threatens to rain residents are terrified because the once beautifully flowing Bull Park River has been turned into a ferocious monster which is now poised to obliterate the entire area. For the past 10 years, this river that has become excessively contaminated and filled with waste from the Jamaica Gypsum Quarries (JGQ). It started to leave its boundaries, consequent on any intense downpour that continued for more than 25 minutes, to ravage public thoroughfare and private properties. This of course, is as a result of poor maintenance of the riverbed and even more so by the alarming rate at which the waste is washed down from the quarries and is being deposited into the river course.
While the residents are not pointing fingers neither are they ignoring the natural acts of God in this disaster, they maintain that it should indicate to even the simplest thought process, that there is some amount of improper practice taking place in the mining operations at the Gypsum Quarries.
On the premise of all that has been said, eyes must then be turned to those agencies such as the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), National Planning and Environmental Agency (NEPA), the Ministry of Mining and Energy, the National Works Agency, and the Caribbean Cement Company among others which should have addressed the situation long before it came to this life- threatening stage. Especially to the fact that it reached the disaster point well over 10 years ago.
The point however, is the sad situations of the more than 23 families who have been flushed out of their homes more than seven weeks ago and still remain homeless, scattered, confused and uncertain of their fate. The scores of other families whose lives have been disrupted by the tons of silt and rubble that have been dumped into their homes, destroying crops, household articles, clothes and other belongings. The stench and sight of faeces strewn about the community because the facilities are destroyed, the dust, the flies and other health hazards which prevail in the area wearying the tolerance, the patience and the good sense of the flood ravaged residents of the Ten and Eleven miles area.
Although there have been several meetings convened between the Ten and Eleven Miles United Citizens' Association and all the agencies mentioned above. A definitive decision is yet to be reached concerning when and how the situations will be appreciably dealt with. Nevertheless another meeting is to be convened for soon.
We are, etc.,
TEN-ELEVEN MILES
CITIZENS' ASSOCIATION
sweetsaudy@yahoo.com
Via Go-Jamaica
