Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
Dr. Barbara Carby (right), director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), addresses a press conference to launch the earthquake drill for New Kingston at the ODPEM Conference Room on Camp Road, Kingston, yesterday. Looking on is Lola Fong-Wright of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
COMPANIES IN New Kingston are being asked to participate in an earthquake drill to be held on June 7, the anniversary of the 1692 earthquake that sank much of Port Royal into the sea and killed up to 2,000 of its population.
The drill, to involve a sample of the New Kingston population, is part of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management's (ODPEM) Earthquake Awareness Week.
Speaking at the drill's launch at ODPEM's South Camp Road, Kingston headquarters, Director General Dr. Barbara Carby stressed the importance of the drill, which is part of the broader aim to develop an earthquake emergency response plan for New Kingston.
"On that day (June 7), we will have our drill just to remind persons that although we are starting the hurricane season (which begins June 1) earthquakes remain a threat," stressed Dr. Carby.
A total of 144 earthquakes were recorded in and near Jamaica last year, reported Dr. Margaret Wiggins-Grandison, head of the University of the West Indies (Mona) Earthquake Unit, adding that an earthquake of up to magnitude 7.5 remained a possibility for Jamaica. Last June, residents of Clarendon, Manchester and St. Andrew, reported damage to their homes in the aftermath of a 5.1 earthquake.
EVACUATION ROUTES
Businesses, said Dr. Carby, are being asked to establish committees and perform at least one practice drill prior to the day. Evacuation routes would need to be mapped out, assembly areas identified and staff trained. She said entities such as the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), New Kingston Civic Committee and other businesses, had already signed up.
PSOJ representative Lola Fong-Wright noted that upon witnessing a similar drill, she noticed that those involved seemed annoyed by the inconvenience. But Mrs. Fong-Wright argued that a drill is "something that is not nice to do, but it is something that can really save our lives down the road."
