Trinityville Disaster Preparedness Town Meeting Postponed

A disaster preparedness town meeting planned for tomorrow (Aug. 28) in the West St. Thomas town of Trinityville, has been postponed as Tropical Storm Gustav, plots a path, which will take it near Jamaica and is expected to affect the island with heavy rains.
The town meeting, planned by the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), in collaboration with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), and the St. Thomas Parish Council, for August 28, would have provided an opportunity for residents to be updated on disaster preparedness plans for the town and its surrounding communities.
Mayor of Morant Bay and Chairman of the St. Thomas Parish Council, Hanif Brown, told JIS News, that Trinityville is susceptible to flooding and being a key link to surrounding communities such as Cedar Valley, Mount Lebanus and New Monklands, made it critical to the disaster preparedness plans for the area. As such, the town meeting would focus on disaster preparedness and management, evacuation procedures, relocation of affected persons, as well as effecting environmental conservation strategies.
“Whenever it rains there is a certain amount of land slippage and we have to be spending to remove silt and debris, that have come down from the hillsides and aside from being vigilant we have to ensure that drains are not blocked with garbage,” Mayor Brown said, pointing out that those were issues he expects persons would raise at the community meeting.
Other issues include the status of emergency shelters, land tenure, the response time of emergency workers and agencies; the erosion of the Roselle Main Road; and the status of repairs to the Belvedere access road (the alternate access road to the parish).
Guest Speakers expected at the re-scheduled town meeting include Regional Co-ordinator of ODPEM, Sophia Mitchell, and representatives from the National Works Agency (NWA), the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), and the St. Thomas Parish Council.