Rev Peter Harding (right), assistant general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU), converses animatedly with (from left) Rev. Cawley Bolt, pastor of the Sligoville Baptist Church, St. Catherine; Elecia Myers, JBU environmental committee member; and Denise Forrest, representative of the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica. The occasion was the recent launch of the church's environmental project in Sligoville. - CONTRIBUTED
THE OFFICE of Disaster Preparedness and Emer-gency Management (ODPEM) is recruiting and training persons in St. Catherine to increase the number of shelter managers in the parish.
Regional coordinator for the ODPEM, Omar Afflick, told JIS News that 26 persons recently participated in a two-day training seminar held at the Windalco sports complex in Ewarton, St. Catherine. Participants were drawn from the Linstead Zone consisting of Bog Walk, Harkers Hall, Above Rocks, Glengoffe, Mount Industry, Riversdale, Guys Hill, Ewarton, Tyedixon and Lluidas Vale.
Among the key topics dealt with at the seminar were basic disaster management, disaster manage-ment mechanisms, and shelter management and operations.
Mr. Afflick said he was pleased that the majority of persons recruited were teachers from schools within the zone, which would eventually be used as shelters in the event of a disaster.
"The teachers, being shelter managers, would have a greater interest in the management of the schools and the resources," he said.
COMEPTENT PERSONNEL
Mr. Afflick said ODPEM was looking for 'competent' persons with the ability to read and write and without a police record, to be certified as shelter managers. He said that volunteers should be 'committed' to work in the event of a disaster, as in the past some persons who were recruited and trained to work as shelter managers could not be found or were unwilling to work when they were needed.
He said that interested persons could contact the ODPEM's head office in Kingston or parish representatives.
Training seminars for shelter managers are scheduled for the Old Harbour and Spanish Town zones in April and May, respectively.
