Further Consultation to Guide Parottee’s Future Following Hurricane Melissa

Considerable detailed work and further engagement with residents are to be undertaken as authorities determine the appropriate way forward for Parottee, St. Elizabeth, following Hurricane Melissa.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), Ambassador Antony Anderson, said preliminary surveys have already been conducted, but noted that additional work and consultation will be required.

He was addressing a recent community engagement session in Parottee hosted by NaRRA, the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), and the Urban Development Corporation (UDC).

Ambassador Anderson noted that the options being considered in determining the future of the hurricane-affected community could include some level of relocation for residents who wish to move, alternative approaches to construction, and considerations surrounding future land use.

He underscored, however, that the process must be guided by scientific evidence as well as the views of residents, noting that the key is “how we bring those two together to ensure that we protect lives here.”

Ambassador Anderson said the process should also seek to strengthen livelihoods without compromising residents’ safety.

“A desirable outcome of anything we do is that we enhance livelihoods at the same time. But that enhancement of livelihoods does not have to be done at the expense of life. Both things are possible and, as things unfold, we will show how both can happen and be possible. That is our desire,” he stated.

The CEO emphasised that residents are at the heart of the process and that their views must be considered in determining the way forward.

“There are so many people here who have come to have an interest in what happens here in Parottee. But I think the most important people who are here… are the people who live here,” Ambassador Anderson said.