Alvin Allen, Guest Columnist
SO MUCH more than the faulty foundations of million-dollar homes along Caribbean Terrace were exposed by Hurricane Ivan. It revealed the progress our nation has made in the 16 years since our last major disaster.
More than anything else, it bared the foibles of human beings; the parasitic and self- destructive traits of Jamaicans, existing in parallel with unbridled outpouring of benevolence and unselfish heroism. It also reminded us of the insensitivity of our American allies to the plights of developing countries such as ours travel advisory and all. Reports in the international press may not capture all of this, but truth does not have to be reported for it to exist.
Truth is, some men did not miss the opportunity to embed criminality into the psyche of their offspring. They along with their female companions, and children in some instances left their homes, during a hurricane fully equipped to tear down anything that the winds spared. For some, the target was the hands that fed them.
My relative in Canada telephoned me on the evening of Sunday, September 12, 2004. In an unusually frantic and troubled tone he asked "Is wha do dem man deh a Jamaica, man?" The reason for his outburst was that he got an update of the effects of Ivan on the island in the form of news clips run by City TV showing armed looters and police trading shots in downtown Kingston. The report may have ignored the loss of lives and property, the damage to micro and macro-economic plans; the displacement of citizens and disruption of essential services; but the story they told was the truth.
ADDITIONAL COST
Furthermore, the truth about our merchants became open to the elements. Sellers who faced no additional cost in goods for sale, within hours after their customers had suffered enormous setback, exacerbated their problem with a sudden increase in the price of goods. A pound of chicken at my local grocer sold for $66 on September 9, 2004 and on September 12, 2004 it was being sold for $100.
The only explanation I have for this is that there is an endemic predatory instinct in merchants, which induce them to hover over vulnerable customers and extract their lifeblood. This sort of selfishness was not confined.
Some media personalities/reporters in their pursuit to be first with the news bad news, did not bother with investigating their stories. So an incident of a girl whose clothes got torn in the excitement turned on by Hurricane Ivan was reported as being raped. No, not by Ivan, by the reporters' exuberance. Stories of looting soon became unconfirmed reports and were later unmentioned.
If anyone doubted that reporters readily sacrifice investigating and reporting the truth, then the frequency with which that occurred during Hurricane Ivan should now convince you.
It is now evident that as a people we are cultured to trust in personalities rather than carefully developed plans and systems and our ineptness at planning in general and planning for events was exposed. Many pre-designated shelters did not have water or food stored to serve for one day. I am convinced that even after experiencing natural disasters and viewing recent examples of it worldwide the Jamaican Government has no structured plan to deal with disasters.
Reconstruction would necessarily be a component in any such plan to be activated by the office with oversight responsibility for dealing with national disaster and emergency. In addressing reconstruction concerns the Prime Minister announced the establishment of the Office of National Reconstruction. In the same breath he stated the prerequisites for the post for director of this office and appointed Danville Walker to the post. This gentleman, who prior to becoming Director of Elections, was a virtual unknown among the who's who in Jamaica, has become a messianic hope of sorts. He is now entrusted with the responsibility of spearheading the reconstruction efforts. Let's hope he succeeds and quickly takes up the post of Director of Economic Reconstruct-ion (the prerequisites are the same).
PUBLIC SERVICES
Thanks to divestment, there is considerable improvement in public services in Jamaica. Compared to what happened after Hurricane Gilbert, the restoration of electricity has exceeded expectation appreciably. Cable and Wireless emerged with top ratings and is now a more attractive telecommunications provider as their system worked when most of the others didn't. Their investment in underground cables paid off and was the main source of information transfer during the emergency.
Stories of heroism and altruism punctuated those of callousness and distress and strengthened my faith in my fellow Jamaicans and hope for a brighter future. The narrative surrounding the delivery of the child of a 17-year-old mother by the police and that of a 17-year-old delivering the child of her mother, her baby brother, generated a positive outlook on our security forces and our youths all at once. Traditional Jamaican spirit was rife throughout as people shared with strangers and friends alike.
Whatever the stories were, the forces of nature revealed mankind's frailty and demand that we carefully examine our existence. Let's hope we do so against the background of how we relate to each other. I have done some examination of what Ivan exposed and these pages do not allow for revelation of my findings. I also found out that "Nuh whey nuh betta than yard" regardless. What did it reveal about you and to you?
Alvin Allen writes from Point Hill, St. Catherine.
