Prime Minister Andrew Holness has extended sincere condolences on behalf of the Government to the Government and people of Haiti following a major earthquake which hit the island on Saturday. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit the French-speaking nation on Saturday, October 6, leaving at least 15 people dead and more than 300 injured. The Prime Minister expressed sympathy at the...

Prime Minister Andrew Holness says Boards of Public Bodies and Agencies must perform and carry out policy mandates. Speaking recently at the Board Retreat of the HEART Trust NTA, Prime Minister Holness said, Boards and Executive Management teams must hold persons accountable through performance standards. “The problem we are having is that sometimes we have too many politicians operating in...

The St. James Municipal Corporation says it is prepared to deal with any eventualities should the parish be impacted by a tropical cyclone during the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season. The season, which officially began on June 1 and will end November 30, generally experiences its peak from mid-August to the end of September. During this period, conditions are ideal for...

Officials of the St. Ann and Trelawny Municipal Corporations say preparations are in place to mitigate the impact of potential natural disasters, including floods and hurricanes. They note that even before the start of the hurricane season in June, “problem areas” were identified where various measures, such as the cleaning of drains and gullies, were carried out. “If we learnt...

The Meteorological Service has issued a Severe Weather Alert for all parishes valid for Sunday, September 16, 2018 through to Monday, September 17, 2018. Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to produce an increase in rainfall across Jamaica this weekend. The forecast for the weekend is outbreaks of heavy showers and thunderstorms that are expected to continue over most of the...

As part of its disaster-preparedness strategy, the St. James Municipal Corporation is seeking to establish an early flood-warning system in Montego Bay, aimed at providing advanced information on flooding. In an interview with JIS News, Mayor of Montego Bay and Chairman of the St. James Municipal Corporation, Councillor Homer Davis, said the system “will alert citizens and business operators when a...

The Ministry of Local Government and Community Development continues to improve the working conditions of the island’s poor relief officers, with the handover of modern technological devices to the Trelawny Poor Relief Department on September 13. The state-of-the-art tablets and a desktop computer were handed over by the Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, at a...