Disaster and Evaluation Plan Being Prepared for St. James

The St. James Municipal Corporation is preparing a parish disaster and evaluation plan.

“We have already completed the document, so our next step will be tendering to actually have a consultant come in and assist us with (the execution),” said Disaster Preparedness Coordinator, Tamoy Sinclair.

She was addressing a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) Think Tank held recently at the municipality’s offices in Montego Bay.

Ms. Sinclair said that the plan is in keeping with ongoing mitigation and education activities by the Disaster Management Department.

“On a daily basis we go to communities where we have meetings with residents. We do presentations in schools and businesses. Our aim is to pretty much reach the wider public in St. James and to make disaster management an integral part of citizens’ lives,” she told JIS News.

She noted that students are targeted through the staging of an annual disaster education awareness competition.

“For 2019, we had some 22 schools in the parish entering that competition with St. James Preparatory School emerging the winner,” Ms. Sinclair said.

There are also quiz and poster competitions, as well as a performing arts contest.

“We are trying our best be very creative in how we do disaster management here,” Ms. Sinclair added.

The Disaster Preparedness Coordinator told JIS News that most of the disaster preparation activities for the parish take place prior to the hurricane season “so by the time we get to the season, most of the standard things which are required would have already been in place.”