WHILE Jamaica was still basking in the glory of Olympic triumph and the Homecoming Planning Committee was organising four days of celebration, Tropical Storm Gustav came along as a reminder that all is not well in the island paradise called Jamaica.

Sadly, the Olympic euphoria and deafening public indifference over time drowned out the environment’s cry for ‘Mercy!’ With an almost clean sweep in Olympic sprint and relay medals, it is about time citizens and policymakers seize the opportunity to get out of the starting blocks for disaster risk reduction.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Jamaican athletes demonstrated vision, discipline, hard work and commitment to the common objective for Olympic Gold. Now the citizens and policymakers need to grasp the vision, foster discipline and commit to reducing disaster loss in the face of growing national disasters and in the context of global climate change. The immediate threat is not so much melting ice caps, and rising sea levels, as much as it is government-and citizen-inappropriate action with respect to growth and management of human settlement in both urban and rural areas, deforestation, solid waste management and drainage.

Floods are natural environmental processes, but the way the land responds is a function of land use practices. The havoc recently unleashed as a consequence of Tropical Storm Gustav left billions of dollars in damage. For a country saddled with debt, the cost for reconstruction is crippling, and the social impact is severe. Much of the damage and loss is preventable. But the average citizen has been either unaware of, or has chosen to ignore the growing risk created by uncontrolled development on unstable slopes and degradation of natural systems. Development control and integration of environmental principles have lagged behind urban sprawl and population growth. Deforestation and land use change continue to accelerate soil erosion under heavy rainfall conditions. Growing construction paves more ground, construction debris is poorly handled, and structures sometimes block the route of natural drainage.

Are Jamaican citizens ready to dance the ‘gully creeper’ in jubilation over better gully management and drainage systems? Perhaps a massive ‘gully creeper’ campaign championed by the stars themselves is needed, to foster implementation of effective gully management and drainage systems.

Private developers must undertake environmental risk assessment before purchasing land, and should integrate sound principles of slope protection, drainage and waste disposal. The government needs to adopt and implement environmental risk reduction policies and strategies with as much vigour, urgency and pride as they did the Olympic homecoming.

Urgent leadership is needed now to address the relocation of people from vulnerable locations and the integration of risk assessment into developments by the state. An integrated approach to environmental risk reduction and town and country planning is essential given growing urbanisation, the commitment to poverty reduction and the increasing impact of the climate hazards. Effective planning and strong decision making with respect to government policy and law enforcement is needed on this front. The problem of disaster loss is guaranteed to escalate with greater economic and social costs.

Reafforestation is another priority, especially in areas such as the Hope, Yallahs, Wagwater, Rio Cobre, Rio Minho, Rio Grande and Buff Bay watersheds. Reafforestation efforts have many opportunities for community engagement, especially if initiated by citizens and supported by government policy. Plant-a-tree campaigns on Labour Day and for school projects would have far-reaching effects if organised as a systematic effort to reduce floods and sustain water supply. The Jamaica Forest Conservation Fund provides a vehicle for supporting carefully planned programmes, and the National Plant A Tree Day on October 1 should be promoted as a major focus for this “Land of Wood and Water”.

The lessons of the Olympics and Gustav should not be lost in the euphoria. Displacement, death and destruction from natural hazards are not an apocalyptic prediction; they are the reality in Jamaica today. Recurring disasters demand the ‘nuh linga’ attitude.