Ross Sheil and Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporters
A workman removes signs in Portmore, St. Catherine, yesterday, in preparation for Hurricane Dennis. - JUNIOR DOWIE/Staff Photographer
MANY PEOPLE were yesterday going about business as usual albeit with the other eye on the clock and the approaching Hurricane Dennis. Shelters The Gleaner visited were closed or poorly stocked and barely patronised.
Visited at 8:45 a.m. the National Arena, St. Andrew was still closed as a shelter since it was booked for a Cable & Wireless Expo. The shelter is intended only for the evacuation of Portmore. But, as The Gleaner later discovered, Portmore residents were far from filling their own shelters and were more likely to be found milling about on the road and outside bars.
But, in Kingston, the Jamaican entrepreneurial spirit was alive and well at the Ocean Craft Market on St. Andews Boulevard, downtown Kingston. Speaking with The Gleaner at 9:30 a.m. proprietor Riley Maragh remained optimistic of potential business, perhaps he projected even from tourists: "Well, one or two might come along and maybe buy something. But I'll be closing at 11:30 a.m."
UNDER-UTILISED SHELTER
Travelling to Portmore The Gleaner found the HEART Training Academy Auditorium, a designated shelter, open but under-utilised. It had just 10 patrons, no beds and no provisions but as a volunteer explained, "people are advised to bring enough provisions for two or three days." But, the official policy of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management an official said, "is that people bring enough to last through the night and into the next day."
Meanwhile, those sheltering were relying on their own resources. A family of six from West Bay went to the shelter the night before with a suitcase of provisions but had to form beds from the chairs in the shelter.
Returning to Kingston at 10:30 a.m., Coronation Market, downtown Kingston was a hive of activity as wholesalers, stall owners and vendors refused to be denied by Dennis. Asked the now obvious question of why she was still selling lighters, candles and batteries Sheryll from Central Village reasoned: "I have to make a living same as you ... the storm will not come until 12:00 p.m. so I'll be going home some time between then and 11:00 a.m."
Youthlink writer Robert Bailey contributed to this story.
