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Earthquake Awareness Week will be observed from January 8 to 13 under the theme, 'Prepare Now! Don't Wait.Be Ready for the Next Earthquake'. The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (OPDEM) conceptualised the week in order to fully exploit opportunities to sensitize the Jamaican public about the need to prepare for earthquakes. Speaking at a recent JIS 'Think Tank',...

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) is renewing its call for schools, which do not have earthquake disaster preparedness plans, to put one in place as soon as possible. These plans should include steps to deal with injuries and how the school will take care of children in case their parents are unable to collect them as...

Justice Leighton Pusey has been appointed to act as a Puisne Judge in the Supreme Court. He was sworn in today (January 6) at a ceremony presided over by Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Howard Cooke at King's House. In his brief remarks, the Governor-General extended congratulations to judges serving in Jamaica, noting that they were upstanding models...

Cabinet Ministers are now in retreat to discuss a number of issues ranging from the Proceeds of Crime Act and the setting of the legislative agenda for the remainder of the parliamentary year, to the EU Sugar Protocol, World Cup 2007, investment facilitation and the national shelter and settlement strategy. Minister of Information, Hon. Burchell Whiteman said the Cabinet retreat...

Prime Minister P. J. Patterson has ordered that arrangements for a modern police Headquarters to house the Commissioner of Police and his Principal Officers in a central location are to be completed within the next four weeks. The new headquarters will house a Command and Control Centre equipped with modern technologies to coordinate operations across the island. Cabinet is in...

The Bluefields People's Community Association (BPCA) is reaping success from its information technology project, which targets at risk youth and students of communities in Eastern Westmoreland. "The programme has been doing extremely well", said project chairman Keith Wedderburn, noting that over the past eight months, "we have managed to forge worthwhile relationships with a number of institutions including the National...

Several communities across the island served by the National Water Commission (NWC) are soon to benefit from improved water supply and sewerage services with the receipt of some US$2.5 million worth of pipes and equipment from China under the Jamaica Water Systems Rehabilitation and Extension Project. Water and Housing Minister Donald Buchanan speaking at the official unloading and reception ceremony...

The parishes of Hanover and Westmoreland are fine-tuning activities for Earthquake Awareness Week, which will be observed from January 8 to 16 under the theme: 'Prepare Now! Don't Wait.Be ready for the next Earthquake'. During that period there will be visits to schools, businesses and hotels in the two parishes to give talks on earthquake awareness, and to carry out...

Jamaican jerk pork and chicken have been voted on the list of 'The 50 things to eat before you die'. The list was the focus of a special BBC television programme that was hosted by noted television Chef, Ainsley Harriot, and shown over the Christmas season. Television viewers had been asked to vote for the top 50 things everyone should...

When the region signs the official documents to implement the CARICOM Single Market (CSM) later this month, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will become the newest trade bloc, joining the approximately 194 other trade blocs in the fight to ensure market survival. Prime Minister P. J. Patterson has hailed the institution, noting that it would serve to deepen regional cooperation and...

Prime Minister P. J. Patterson participated in a number of ground-breaking ceremonies for several major resorts across the island during 2005. Among the most recent was the ground-breaking for construction of the Bahia Principe Resort in St. Ann by Grupo Pinero of Spain, in October. The project, which consists of a 1,918-room hotel and villa resort, represents an investment of...

The increase in the National Housing Trust's loan limits was one of the agency's major achievements for 2005. Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, who announced the increases in the House of Representatives on July 20, said that serviced lot loans would be increased from $450,000 to $600,000 per single applicant and from $700,000 to $800,000 for co-applicants; while home improvement loans...