ODPEM Promoting Safe Building Practices through Poster Competition

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) has launched a poster competition, aimed at promoting safe building practices to reduce the impact of hazards and natural disasters.
In collaboration with the United Kingdom-based Department for International Development (DFID), the competition, titled ‘Safer Building’, is open to any individual or group within Jamaica.
Project Co-ordinator for the Tropical Storm Gustav Recovery Project at ODPEM, Kirk Frankson, told JIS News that the objective is to bring about a change in the culture of building, and to educate homeowners about simple measures to increase protection against flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes, landslides, and fires.
“What we want is to ask persons to submit a poster that corresponds to either a depiction of the various hazards, preparedness tips for the hazards or (the destruction) wrought by these hazards,” he explained.
“This competition is part of that initiative to get Jamaicans thinking how to build safer, where they build, and what they build with,” he told JIS News, mentioning measures such as proper spacing of laths, the use of hurricane straps and fillets, among other things.
The winning poster becomes the property of the ODPEM and will be used in the agency’s disaster management campaigns.
Entry forms for the competition can be obtained at the offices of the Social Development Commission (SDC) or from Parish Disaster Co-ordinators at the various Parish Councils islandwide.
No more than six persons can submit a group entry. Deadline for submission is Friday, October 30 and winners will be announced on November 13, with the winning poster launched on November 23.
Several partners have lent their support to the project, including the Ministries of Labour and Social Security, and Water and Housing; the SDC; the Construction Resource and Development Centre; and the HEART Trust/NTA.