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Jamaica's vulnerability to earthquakes and tsunamis will take centre stage at a symposium to be held at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel as part of Earthquake Awareness Week 2013 activities. The conference, which will be held on Thursday, January 24, will explore the country’s response and preparedness mechanisms. The event, which will be held as part of activities to...

Local Government and Community Development Minister, Hon. Noel Arscott, says Jamaica needs to entrench a culture of recycling and reuse of its solid waste in a bid to preserve the environment. “We generate 1,200 tonnes of waste per day in the Corporate Area alone. Of this, 40 per cent of it is recyclable, which presents a tremendous business opportunity,” the...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, has welcomed the official opening of a recycling plant in her South Western St. Andrew constituency, which she says, will bring gainful employment to the area while helping to keep the environment clean. “This environmental project… has the potential to create about 100 jobs. The owners and managers will be employing people...

The work of the Earthquake Unit at the University of the West Indies, Mona, in monitoring the country’s seismic activities, has been enhanced with a donation of US$30,000 by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM). The money, which will be used to facilitate the installation of four motion seismographs (accelerometers), was handed over on Monday (January 14),...

The South St. Andrew community of Trench Town, known as the cradle of reggae music, having produced some of the island's top musicians including reggae icon Bob Marley, is now yielding bounty of a different sort. In the heart of the community, lies a flourishing greenhouse, where residents are engaged in cultivating vegetables to feed their families, while earning an...

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) is urging Jamaicans to take measures to ensure the safety of water for domestic use during the dry period. “We are aware that during the dry season, where there is shortage of water, persons are sometimes forced to source water from undesirable sources such as untreated water wells, rivers, ponds and...

National Water Commission (NWC) Chairman, Dr. Leary Myers, says the agency will spearhead the implementation of projects valued over $3.7 billion per year, for the next eight years, until the expiration of the organisation’s K-Factor Programme in 2021. He was speaking during Wednesday’s (January 9) contract signing for implementation of the NWC’s $745 million Sector F Sewerage Systems Rehabilitation Project...

A seminar on the promotion of disaster risk management for journalists, will highlight activities for this year’s observance of Earthquake Awareness Week, which will be held from January 20 to 26. In an interview with JIS News, Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Ronald Jackson, said the seminar, set for January 25, will expose...

Jamaicans are being urged to begin preparations for the dry period, by increasing water storage and conservation measures. The advice, from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), comes against the forecast for below normal rainfall for the next three months. The dry spell usually begins in January and Director General of ODPEM, Ronald Jackson, said the public...

Several interest groups in the tourism Mecca of Negril have thrown their support behind a US$3 million project that is seeking to restore the beach and environment in the area. The four year project is being spearheaded by the Negril Area Environmental Protection Trust (NEPT), with regulatory and other support from the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), and is...

Residents of 10 communities in St. Catherine, who have been trained in emergency management, were on December 20 presented with emergency radios to enhance their response during times of disaster. A total of 20 radios, valued at $474,000 (US$5,260), were handed over to representatives of the communities at a function held at the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management’s...

The National Water Commission (NWC) is reporting that at the end of November its monthly billing for areas in Stony Hill, St. Andrew, reflected a 56 per cent increase, due to improvements in the water supply to six communities there. This has been facilitated through improvement in the Stony Hill distribution network, under the Category A1 works of the Jamaica...