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The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) staged a successful earthquake and tsunami evacuation exercise today (February 8) in the fishing community of Old Harbour Bay in St. Catherine. The exercise, which encompassed the campuses of the Old Harbour Primary and High schools (Feb. 8), tested the local warning, mobilisation, and evacuation procedures. Senior Director for Emergency Preparedness...

Minister of Water, Environment, Land and Climate Change, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, said there is an urgent need to increase the coverage of wastewater treatment in the Caribbean. He said current wastewater treatment levels within the region are far below what is needed, pointing out that as much as 85 per cent of wastewater entering the Caribbean Sea is untreated. He...

Jamaica, over the years, has experienced a number of natural disasters, which have resulted in significant social dislocation and economic loss. The Government is making strides in reducing the island’s vulnerability to disaster through a number of projects and initiatives including the Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Project. The project, which is being implemented by the Planning Institute...

Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, on January 31, toured the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), in Kingston, to familiarise himself with the work of the agency. During the tour, led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NEPA, Peter Knight, a detailed outline was given on the work of the agency and its role...

A second community, Melbrook Heights in St. Andrew, has been identified by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) to benefit from low-cost landslide mitigation strategies and training under the World Bank-funded Community-Based Landslide Risk Reduction Project (CBLRRP). Melbrook Heights has demonstrated the key characteristics of a community for intervention, having met the criteria of a compact settlement,...

Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Gladstone Hutchinson, has emphasised the need for the capacity of  the  natural and built environment to be significantly enhanced, to make the country more resilient to dislocation associated with the weather. Speaking at the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s (JSE) Seventh Investments and Capital Markets Conference, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel,...

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) is warning that the practice of erecting retaining walls as a solution to landslides, may not be the best option. Project Manager for the Community Based Landslide Risk Reduction Mitigation Project (CBLRRMP), at ODPEM, Kirk Frankson, pointed out that retaining walls actually make the problem of landslides worse, because in many...

Director General, Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Gladstone Hutchinson, says the agency is seeking private sector partnerships to undertake entrepreneurial activities in communities where the PIOJ's Community Renewal Programme (CRP) is being implemented. The CRP aims to address areas of housing, infrastructure and governance in 100 of the most volatile and vulnerable communities in five parishes islandwide. These communities...

Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, says the government is fully committed to the preservation of the country’s natural environment to improve the standard of living and the quality of life for all Jamaicans. He stated that the administration has adopted an approach which is based on five key elements: reduce, replenish, recovery, recycle and...

Work on the National Water Commission's (NWC) sewerage extension project, in the vicinity of Mona, St. Andrew, is set to get underway in two weeks. The $54 million project, which falls under the NWC's Sewage Development Programme, will involve construction of a number of PVC sanitary sewers, manholes and side road laterals on a number of streets leading off Mona...

Several stakeholders from various agencies and departments participated in a National Simulation Exercise (NaSIMEX 2012) programme, on January 26, aimed at assessing the readiness of the education sector in the event of a major earthquake. The exercise was carried out within the context that a national emergency/crisis situation has been triggered by an earthquake of magnitude 7.1. It was done...

Harbour Heights, a community overlooking Harbour View in the hills of East Rural St Andrew, will be the first to benefit from a pilot landslide mitigation project, to be implemented by the Office of Disaster Management and Preparedness (ODPEM). Titled the Jamaica Landslide Risk Reduction Project, it is being financed by a US$2.37 million grant from the Japanese Social Development...