‘Wata come een a mi room, mi sweep out some wid di broom, de likkle dawg laugh to see such fun and di dish run away wid di spoon…’

– Lloyd Lovindeer, Wild Gilbert.

THE list of hurricanes seriously impacting Jamaica in the last 20 years speaks volumes.

Dean, August 2007; Wilma of 2005; Emily, July 2005; Ivan, September 2004; Lenny, November 1999; Mitch, October 1998; Georges, September 1998: Luis, August 1998; Marilyn, September 1995: Hugo, September 1989; and Gilbert, September 1988.

That’s one every two years. In between, there have been others considered less serious like Dennis, which came six days before Emily, killing at least one person and causing an estimated US$32 million in damage. And forecasters’ predictions of hurricanes with greater frequency and intensity are coming true.

As Jamaica picks up the pieces after Gustav (which passed as a mere tropical storm and left 12 people dead, up to 4,000 others displaced, more than 200 houses destroyed or extensively damaged, and billions in infrastructure damage), a weak discussion broke out about compulsory evacuation of threatened and disaster areas which soon died.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in a statement to Parliament, announced he has established a Task Force to, inter alia, define no-build areas and identify alternative lands to relocate people, if necessary by force. But nowhere in his speech did the prime minister mention the now languishing bill, which was to repeal the Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Act. If passed, the bill would sanction the use of force to evacuate areas threatened by natural disasters.

Perhaps his silence was pragmatic. In the political aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, all levels of government in the United States embarrassingly exposed themselves in a man-made storm concerning evacuation logistics in Louisiana. During investigation into the failures of the response to Katrina, one Republican politician, Christopher Shays from Connecticut, pointed out the obvious. Enforcement of legal provisions for mandatory evacuation placed on government a responsibility to provide free housing, care for the sick and elderly and all that’s necessary to keep life and limb together for the dispossessed. Shays said: ‘The point of making it mandatory was that then there’s a whole host of assistance that your community gets. They don’t have to just get in their cars and drive off’. Jamaica has to focus more than half-heartedly on the issue of an appropriate co-ordinated response to natural disasters.

Poverty of spirit and resources aside, Jamaica needs a change now (as per the JLP election slogan). The current 1993 Act provides that:

Where the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (“the Office”) reports to the Minister:

a. the existence of any local condition in any part of the island tending to endanger public safety; or

b. that any part of the island appears to be threatened with or affected by a natural or technological hazard and that measures should be taken promptly… the prime minister may declare that part of the island to be a disaster area. He can then direct the enforcement of any measures recommended by the office or any other measures that he thinks expedient.

Arguably, government already has the power to compulsorily evacuate disaster areas. The hesitation to use it is explained in part by the lack of specific provisions in the act and concerns about constitutional niceties like human rights.

The draft bill uses stronger language. It pointedly gives the prime minister the specific power to make an order requiring areas to be evacuated. However, an evacuation order must not be made unless the prime minister is satisfied:

a. that an emergency/disaster has occurred, is occurring or is imminent; and

b. that extraordinary measures are required to prevent or minimise:

i. loss of life, prejudice to safety, or harm to the health, of persons

ii. destruction of, or damage to property; or

iii. destruction of, or damage to any part of the environment.

Thereafter, the bill enumerates various things that authorised officers may do after a declaration of emergency/disaster, including controlling the movement of people and traffic, demolition of structures, and requiring people to give help to disaster co-ordinators and shelter officers. Section 28(3) says: ‘An authorised officer may exercise a power… with such help and using such force as is reasonable in the circumstances’. It would be an offence to fail to comply with directions to regulate movement into, out of, or around the declared area. Curiously, however, no sanctions are provided for.

Quizzed about this, director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Ronald Jackson, said sanctions would be spelled out in the regulations which are yet to be drafted. The bill more clearly defines the role of the civil service and agencies of government. As Mr Jackson indicated, it drives home the point that disaster management is not and cannot be the sole purview of ODPEM.

Final drafting instructions for the bill have been issued to the Chief Parliamentary Counsel. Thereafter, it goes to Parliament for debate. The rest of the society needs to be included in the discussion. The people must be a part of and be prepared for new approaches to ever increasing natural disasters. Without public education and discussion, attempts to implement evacuation laws could increase pain when people need to be comforted. Government must never repeat the shame of the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) Whitehall demolition of people’s homes on the eve of Tropical Storm Gustav.

Helene Coley Nicholson is an attorney-at-law.