By Damion Mitchell, Staff Reporter
A house under construction in Portland Cottage in south-east Clarendon yesterday as some residents start to rebuild after the destruction caused by Hurricane Ivan in the community two weeks ago. - PHOTOS BY IAN ALLEN/Staff Photographer
DESPITE PRIME Minister P.J. Patterson's instructions that reconstruction should not be undertaken in communities subject to severe damage as a result of flooding caused by heavy rains, some residents of Portland Cottage in south-east Clarendon have begun erecting new concrete houses.
Eight persons were killed and hundreds displaced in that community during the passage of Hurricane Ivan, which ravaged the island on September 10 and 11. Storm surges more than six feet high crashed through mangroves and wetlands into their houses, flattening several buildings and extensively damaging many others.
"The country just cannot afford to continue spending funds to rebuild in the same areas," Prime Minister Patterson said on Tuesday in the House of Representatives, referring to areas such as Portland Cottage and Rocky Point in Clarendon that were devastated by the hurricane. "It is a waste of resources and it has to stop," he said.
But up to yesterday, some residents were seen rebuilding houses in the area and according to one community member there were plans for even more re-construction.
A Gleaner news team toured the community yesterday following a post-'Ivan' Gleaner Editors' Forum at the Lionel Town Police Station in Clarendon, another in the series the newspaper has been hosting in parishes hardest hit by the disaster.
DIFFICULT TO RELOCATE
"I just want to put on back my roof," said Leonie Thompson, 40. A mother of five, Miss Thompson said it would be difficult for her to relocate because she had invested a significant portion of her savings into the construction of her house.
Gwendolyn Williams had a different reason for wanting to remain at her home. "I don't believe I'm going to leave from here because nothing more (disaster) will happen," she said.
Meanwhile, Ruddy Spencer, the Member of Parliament Clarendon South East, said at yesterday's Gleaner forum that an alternative location had been identified for the resettlement of residents who reside in the section of Portland Cottage that is prone to flooding due to storm surges.
Earlier, he was part of a team headed by Danville Walker, chief executive officer of the Office of National Reconstruction the agency spearheading the coordination of the recovery programme to identify alternative housing locations for residents of Portland Cottage and Rocky Point.
Although the proposed site still falls in the Portland Cottage area, it is elevated between 30 and 40 feet above sea level and is distanced from the plains of the community, which were devastated during the storm surge.
In the meantime, William 'Billy' Shagoury, managing director of Shagoury's Vibrated Blocks and Crushed Stones Industry, is urging that although there is need for urgent reconstruction, the new buildings under the Government's recovery initiatives must comply with approved standards.
And Milton Brown, the Mayor of May Pen, said the Clarendon Parish Council would be ensuring that no reconstruction occurs outside of approved areas. "We are going to be firm," he said, revealing that two compliance officers will be employed by the Clarendon Parish Council to assist in this process.
