The Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) is to hand over firefighting kits to teams in two communities who have completed critical training in Bush Fire Management. The project, which received £70,000 (J$12.6 million) funding from the British High Commission, began as a pilot under the ‘National Community Fire and Life Safety Education Programme’ in the Mavis Bank community in St. Andrew...

Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, has called on all citizens to join in the fight against the spread of the Zika virus, by ridding their surroundings of breeding sites for mosquitoes. He noted that while the Government is committed to combating the disease, “it is in our interest that we observe all the notices and...

Chairman of the Hanover Parish Council, Mayor Wynter McIntosh, says all is in place for the national clean-up exercise in the parish on Saturday (September 10). “We have already started the sensitisation. The Social Development Commission (SDC) is already out there working and our public relations officer is out there as well. At the end of it, I’m expecting that...

The national clean-up campaign, aimed at ridding communities of mosquito breeding sites, moves to Hanover this weekend. Local Government and Community Development Minister, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, will lead a multi-agency team in a parish-wide clean-up exercise on Saturday (September 10), aimed at removing bulky waste such as refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, sofas and other material. The clean-up activity will be...

National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Chairman, Dennis Chung, anticipates further improvements in the agency’s service delivery over the next seven months. This is based, he says, on changes which, among other things, have influenced a change in the public’s seemingly negative perception of the agency, particularly in the aftermath of last year’s massive fire at the Riverton City disposal...

Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Major Clive Davis, says that Jamaicans have made strides in terms of their responsiveness to the threat of natural disasters. Speaking in an interview with JIS News at the National Emergency Operations Centre on Tuesday (August 2), Major Davis said that evidence of this was seen in the...

Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, says that adequate funds are available for parish councils to undertake drain cleaning during the 2016 hurricane season. “No parish council in Jamaica has been deprived of any funding for drain cleaning,” the Minister said in response to a question posed during a press conference at the Office of the...