FOR five years Marlene Foster has been terrified of travelling late at night along the dark road that leads to her home in Cascade, located half-a-mile from the community grocery shop she operates.

Foster is not fearful that she will be attacked by robbers or gunmen. Rather, she is afraid that she might take a tumble over a precipice in the dark. For this reason, her eldest son Bryan visits the shop religiously every evening to help her lock up. He then walks her home along the dangerous terrain, past the steep precipice that, a few nights ago, nearly swallowed motorcyclist Morris Dennis. The precipice, which has no retaining wall, is about a 30-40-foot drop.

Prior to Dennis’ near miss, fear stroked Foster with icy fingers on the morning of December 20 when she awoke to the tragic news that 14 people from communities at the other side of the parish had died. The market truck in which they were travelling went over a precipice and landed in a ravine. She recalled sighing deeply and looking heavenward.

“When I heard about it, the first thing I say to myself is that it could have happened in this community because of the negligence we are suffering. The roadways and the steep cliffs need to be looked at because that accident might have been prevented if there was a banking or a wall to protect vehicles,” Foster said, momentarily putting aside her crossword puzzle.

The 43-year-old woman is not alone in her concerns.

Portlanders in communities across the parish, which is divided into eastern and western constituencies, will waste no time in relaying their fears about travelling on the dangerous roads. The precipices scare them terribly.

But since the December 20 tragedy, expectations that the danger spots will be fixed and barriers put in place have skyrocketed among Portland residents. For, whether or not they lost relatives, friends or mere acquaintances in the market truck accident, there is a general belief among most people that Portland will be a safer parish for motorists, adults, children and pedestrians.

Back in Cascade, construction by workmen to build a culvert (started in 2004 and subsequently abandoned) resulted in a huge breakaway, widening the precipice. Flood waters from successive hurricanes and heavy rainfall led to further erosion of the area. Now, all that remains is a muddy track that runs dangerously close to the edge of the precipice.

Residents complain that no vehicular traffic can utilise that route.

“We are basically cut off up here,” said Foster. “The terrible road conditions affect almost everything. There is very little transportation, and to get things to sell in my shop costs a whole lot of money. So, right now, shops around here don’t make any profit; and you just come to expect that. You don’t live off profits again because any profit you make, you have to use that pay for help to get your goods up here.”

Covering an approximate area of 814 square km, Portland is Jamaica’s seventh largest parish, boasting a variety of complex landforms, with its entire coastline dotted with caves, bays, rivers, waterfalls and hills. There are 14 caves and 17 rivers which form a network throughout the parish. Additionally, Portland has the richest land on its coastal strips suitable for any kind of cultivation, so lots of domestic crops thrive. As a result, the parish is a leading producer of bananas, coconuts, breadfruit and coffee, among other crops, which are grown for local consumption as well as for export.

Perfect fit as the gorgeous landscape is for the eastern parish, one cannot help but cringe at the thought of the precipices that seem to lie in wait for unsuspecting (or negligent) motorists and pedestrians. According to a number of residents, there is treachery in Portland’s beauty. Its cascading waterfalls, springs, rivers, lush green vegetation and warm sunshine, combined with deep corners, steep hillsides and deadly precipices make for a curious amalgamation.

“It’s like the danger is ahead of the beauty. We have all this good food and scenery but also all of these land slippages and bad roads. Something has to be done,” said Vincent Miller, a labourer of Birnamwood.

Thirty-six-year-old Donna Williams expressed similar sentiments over a game of dominoes with a group of men at a bar in Spring Hill, while emphasising the urgent need for better roads in the rural districts.

“I think up here is a disaster zone that desperately needs attention. Basically, we want the roads and the retaining walls to be fixed. For anybody who knows of the tragedy, it is very sad. We really need better roads,” Williams told the Sunday Observer, as the men nodded and grumbled their agreement without taking their eyes from the domino table for even a second.

In River’s View and Avocat, residents lamented the plight of farmers, particularly the coffee growers who struggle daily to get their crops to the Albany pulpery.

“I have been living up here from I was 16, and life was better back then even when we never had any money. But is now no money not around,” said a senior citizen who gave his name only as Mass John. “The coffee farmers have it extremely difficult, and is not just them, all the farmers have trouble getting their crops from the fields to the relevant areas for it to reach Kingston.”

Donald Rhodd, member of parliament for East Portland, told the Sunday Observer that he is frustrated when he considers how his requests for greater attention to Portland have been largely ignored.

“Every time we have to drive up there we basically risk our lives because those hills, precipices and gullies are extremely dangerous,” Rhodd said from his Kingston office. “Those roads built on the Blue and John Crow Mountain ranges are not being properly maintained. In the Rio Grande Valley, there is no maintenance of the roads by the relevant authorities. Only the grace of God has prevented more tragic accidents from taking place.”

“For 11 years, we have been pushing for something to be done, with little or no response. The [current transport and works] minister has toured the area, the relevant technical people have done assessments and photographs have been taken. So it is all documented. So it’s not for a lack of study. It’s a lack of will and the urgent need for resources to be allocated,” he charged.

With an estimated population of 82,000 (15,000 of which live in Port Antonio, the capital) Portland extends from the highest peaks of the Blue Mountains, and is highly noted for its fertile soil, beautiful scenery and fine beaches. At the same time, the parish lies in the direct path of the north-east trade winds, and the Blue Mountain Ridge to its south traps the moisture, causing the parish to have the highest level of rainfall in Jamaica.

“This section of the country gets one of the highest levels of rainfall in the English-speaking Caribbean, so you cannot treat this area with the same kind of techniques that you treat other areas of the island,” said Rhodd. “And we continue to get an insensitivity from successive governments in dealing with the problem. When you take into consideration the economic value of the area in terms of coffee, banana, citrus and tourism, this area should be getting more attention.”

Meanwhile, West Portland MP Daryl Vaz, said his efforts to secure funds to carry out repairs to the deplorable roads in his constituency had borne fruit, and that work was already under way.

“In relation to West Portland, we currently have a contract worth $299 million in effect for work to be done in the Buff Bay Valley,” he said. “We are also using $40 million for river training exercises in the area and $20 million has been set aside for clearing of the coffee roads which were blocked by landslides. We need to help the coffee farmers get their crops out, and I am glad that so far the Albany pulpery now has better roads.”

Back in Cascade, Foster is standing by her shop door staring out into the distance. She feels heartened by the politicians’ plans to keep the spotlight on their afflicted communities.

“I plan to continue to champion the needs of the people,” said Rhodd. “I have a resolution on the floor of Parliament currently that speaks to the problems that parishes in eastern Jamaica, not just Portland, are facing. Something has to be done and soon, because if you check with the PIOJ, you will find that the poverty indices for many of these communities have gone up because of the many problems they face.”