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Director General in the Office of the Prime Minister, Dennis Morrison has cited the active hurricane season coupled with periods of drought and high energy prices, as main forces that impacted significantly on Jamaica's economy during 2005. According to Mr. Morrison, the immediate economic plan involved four objectives: returning the economy to single digit inflation; balancing the fiscal deficit; gaining...

Parish Disaster Co-ordinator for St. Elizabeth, Yvonne Morrison is reminding Jamaicans to make adequate preparations, should an earthquake occur. Updating JIS News about plans for a number of special earthquake awareness meetings to be held in January 2006, Mrs. Morrison noted that given the amount of natural disasters that occurred throughout the world in 2005, there was need for each...

Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Desmond McKenzie has said that the projected cost to clear and rehabilitate total damage caused by Hurricane Wilma in Kingston and St Andrew stands at $871.6 million. Speaking at a meeting to discuss the effects of Hurricane Wilma on the corporate Area and a report of the Council's task force findings at the Kingston and St...

The devastating 2004 Caribbean hurricane season, the catastrophic tsunami in South Asia and the destructive effects of Hurricane Katrina, will provide the backdrop for the meeting of Caribbean countries benefiting under the Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change Project, in St. Lucia early next month. Basil Fernandez, Managing Director of the Water Resources Authority, said that at the meeting, the region...

Opposition Spokesman on Transport and Works, Pearnel Charles is urging the government to make special budgetary allocation for disaster prevention to avoid expending sizeable amounts for relief in the aftermath of disasters. Mr. Charles, who was making his contribution to the 2005/06 Sectoral Debate in Gordon House on June 29, said the cost of prevention was far more economic than...

The Ozone Act should be passed in the Houses of Parliament by the end of the year, enabling Jamaica to officially participate in the global effort to reduce the depletion of the ozone layer by reducing and eventually eliminating the use of ozone depleting substances (ODS). "It is expected that the Act will be in place by the end of...

As drought conditions continue to affect the parish of St. Elizabeth, Public Relations Manager for Alumina Partners of Jamaica (ALPART), Lance Neita has made an urgent appeal to persons who have illegally tapped into the company's water supply system to cease this activity. Speaking at a recent community council meeting held at the ALPART Sports Club, Mr. Neita noted that...

Lilian Miller, a seventy-year-old resident of the York Town community in Southwest Clarendon has received a single unit house, as a result of a partnership between Food for the Poor and the Poor Relief Department of the Clarendon Parish Council. The Unit is valued at approximately J$124, 000 (US$2,000). In a JIS News interview, Ms. Miller expressed her gratitude for...

The Caribbean Bar Association (CBA) will be donating the proceeds from its annual fundraising banquet to support hurricane victims in the region. This is the Association's most recent demonstration of support for the regional relief effort as the membership has been working with the Caribbean Consulates in Florida to raise cash, goods and services for the hurricane-ravaged islands. CBA President,...

Severe storms and floods. Coastal flooding. Longer, more severe droughts. Intense heat waves. Unpredictable weather conditions. These are some of the effects of climate change. Many people do not know what climate change is. In fact, the expressions 'greenhouseeffect', 'chlorofluorocarbons' (CFCs), and 'global warming' are often bandied about without any real thought as to what they mean and how they...