PRIME Minister P J Patterson yesterday said that there was need for legislation allowing for forced removal of persons from selected areas threatened by disasters.

At the same time, he told Parliament that there was no need to declare any disaster areas in the aftermath of Hurricane Dennis. However, the Government would focus on giving special priority to the worst affected areas.

Emily five-day projection

"As we stated. at the time of Hurricane Ivan (last September), we are going to need to develop a policy that has teeth and that will allow forced removal of persons from selected areas where disasters are threatened," Patterson said.

He pointed out that some people are fooled into a false sense of security whenever they ignore evacuation appeals and survive huricanes.

"But there are some places that are so prone to flooding, that if a natural disaster were to affect those areas, there must be the power to compel those citizens to remove until the danger is over. We have to bring that law to Parliament," he said to applause.

GOLDING... chided government for not being fully prepared

In the case of Hurricane Dennis, Patterson said that the administration's assessment and his judgment did not suggest that there was a need to use the extraordinary powers that can only be exercised pursuant to the declaration of disaster areas in accordance with the Disaster Preparedness and Management Act.

"And so we do not propose to declare any area a disaster area, but we intend to focus and give special priority to those areas that have been worst affected," he added. He named these areas as West St Thomas, East Rural St Andrew, portions of Portland, St Mary, Aenon Town in Clarendon and Cave Valley in St Ann.

The prime minister's decision was a setback for Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie, who had been pushing for several areas in East Rural St Andrew to be declared disaster areas so that the residents would be immediately relocated.

However, Patterson recognised the level of devastation in East Rural St Andrew in his statement and told the House that it needed "very, very special attention".

Patterson... calls for end to 'partisan bickering and grandstanding'

He said that the assessment of damage from Dennis is yet to be completed and, in light of this, the Cabinet has authorised each ministry and agency to undertake emergency work with funds currently available.

He said that the Ministry of Finance will meet relevant ministries by this weekend to prepare a submission for next Monday's Cabinet meeting, including expenditures which will have to be added to the First Supplementary Estimates.

But the authorities may find themselves having to repeat this exercise, given that the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) five-day projection for Emily shows the system scoring a direct hit on Jamaica Saturday at hurricane strength if it does not swing away.

Yesterday, Patterson drew attention to the possibility of Emily affecting Jamaica later this week and called for an end to "partisan bickering and grandstanding". Instead, he suggested that the nation's political leaders speak with "one voice" in helping Jamaicans to understand how to be fully prepared to cope with disasters.

He noted that early indications were that about 40 per cent of the banana industry was lost to Dennis and the road infrastrcuture had been severely damaged. He said that the population at shelters had fallen from 3,220 to 147 since Friday.

Leader of the Opposition, Bruce Golding, criticised the Government for a lack of preparation for the hurricane/rainy season, despite earlier assurances that the country was fully prepared.

He said the proceedings in the House have become a ritual after every disaster and suggested that members ask themselves whether this was "good enough".

He said that the country knows it is located in a hurricane zone, that for six months of the year there is a hurricane season and that for the past 10 years all but two hurricane seasons have been more active than normal.

"We were warned this year, from as early as the 16th of May, when the National Hurricane Centre forecast that we would have this year between 12 and 15 tropical storms, of which seven to nine would become hurricanes and three to five would become major hurricanes. So we were not without warning," he said.

He noted that a month ago the JLP had expressed grave concern about the level of unpreparedness, but when the season was officially declared, the Government gave an assurance that the country was fully prepared.

Golding said that "almost as certain as night follows day", once Patterson gets the estimates of the damage and matches them with available resources, there won't be a "very measurable distance" between them.

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