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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...

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) will on Thursday (January 26) test the readiness of the education sector for a major earthquake, at a simulation exercise slated for the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston. Senior Director for preparedness and emergency operations at ODPEM, Horace Glades, said given the density of the education population it is important that...

Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, says it is critically important to educate and involve all stakeholders on the importance of climate change, and to develop and implement various plans, programmes and projects to effectively address the issue. “It is our intention to focus on addressing this phenomenon, since it has the potential to severely...

The refurbishing of the Constant Spring Water Treatment Plant, Stony Hill, under the Jamaica Water Supply Improvement Project (JWSIP), is 95 per cent complete. The project, which is being undertaken at a cost of US$10 million, includes the construction of new basins and reagents, additional systems for pre-treatment and refurbishing intakes such as values, flow metres. It is expected to...

Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, has informed that about 70 per cent of the island has piped water, and the aim is to bring the total up to 85 per cent. The Minister  said that many Jamaicans tend to  take water for granted, but  pointed out that  it costs  a lot of money  to...