JAMAICAN authorities say that with significantly larger budgets, they could do much more to prepare the country to respond and recover from a large earthquake, the likes of which occurred in Haiti earlier this month.

They say with more money they could acquire better equipment to analyse earth movements, and have more activities to simulate earthquake recovery efforts.

But while doing their best within their budgets, experts hope to use the recent magnitude-7.0 quake in Haiti as a wake up call to the Government to provide the funding necessary to ready the country for a similar event

Executive director of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Ronald Jackson, said additional funding is crucial to prepare for a big shake. So far, he said Jamaica had:

* trained fire service personnel, 10 of whom were deployed for search and rescue in Haiti; and

* seen to it that fire fighters train community residents to act as emergency rescue persons, in order for local parish authorities to stand alone for the first 72 hours of an earthquake.

But needed in the system, Jackson said are:

* specialised equipment for use of extrication of persons from collapsed structures;

* proper information and maps for authorities, including ODPEM, OPM, the National Environment and Planning Authority (NEPA), and municipal and parish councils, produced at scales that allow for more municipal and local area planning; and

* an islandwide earthquake simulation exercise to be done this year, the most recent being done in 2007.

The ODPEM head hopes the events in Haiti and subsequent tremors throughout the Caribbean will alert the Government to the urgency of earthquake preparedness.

“I’m not saying everything must be done at the same time, but it has to be incremental and we have to start,” said Jackson, who revealed that the approved recurrent budget for ODPEM for the 2009-10 financial year is $123.8 million.

ODPEM also manages the smaller National Disaster Fund (NDF) on behalf of the Government. Jackson said approval has to be sought from the Ministry of Finance before accessing this fund. The NDF can be used for proactive measures before a disaster as well as recovery activities.

Dr Lyndon Brown, research fellow and head of the Earthquake Unit, concurred with Jackson.

“It’s matter of money,” said the man who has submitted a $36-million budget for this year to teh Office of the Prime Minister from which it primarily gets its funding. “We have to defer some of the projects we have because we do not receive the kind of funding that we need.”

Brown disclosed that the unit needs to replace its analog equipment with digital, as there are certain signals which the unit cannot analyse with its current equipment.

“There is a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of upgrading the network,” he noted, adding that with upgraded equipment the unit would be able to provide “better attenuation maps so we can guide and improve the building code”.

However, in addition to digital network — the first three units of 12 is to cost an estimated $5 million, which forms a part of their budget request — the Earthquake Unit needs a host of other things. These items include an additional vehicle, a new set of computers, radios and about two dozen decycled batteries.

Michael Archer, past president of the Incorporated Masterbuilders’ Association (IMAJ) is confident that Jamaica would not be as devastated as Haiti should an earthquake of similar magnitude occur here, because of the island’s better construction standards and culture.

“If we had a (magnitude) seven earthquake we would have some damage but we would be far better (off) than Haiti. We probably would not have the level of casualties that we have seen in Haiti,” he told Environment Watch.

Archer, who said he has bid for jobs in the French-speaking nation, noted that there was a “serious lack of urban planning” and “an absence of adherence to any building code” in Haiti.

Jamaica, in contrast, has a modern building code which is based on the California earthquake design code which is the authority patterned by most engineers in the world, Archer said.

Close viewing of pictures of the rubble left in the aftermath of the quake tells an important story, the builder noted.

“When you look at the damage in Haiti, you see little or no steel,” Archer said.

Last November, a church-run school collapsed in Petionville, a suburb of the capital Port au Prince, killing 93 persons; perhaps an omen of what was to come.

This would not be the case in Jamaica, Archer asserts, noting that formal housing developments passed by the local authorities are adequately reinforced with steel. This practice feeds down to informal buildings, as even concrete structures in informal settlements tend to be built properly.

“Anyone who is building in Jamaica knows you have to find a mason and a steel man. Even though they are building an informal structure they know how to build in a formal sense,” he said.

Jackson agreed, stating “the difference is that when our squatters build a concrete structure, they build with steel, while in Haiti there wasn’t much steel”.

However, they both agreed that Jamaica should not be complacent as many large concrete structures are to be found in informal communities such as Lilliput in St James and Windsor Heights (Sufferers Heights) in St Catherine.

“We need to attack the number of informal settlements we have; that was one of the lessons coming out of Haiti,” said Jackson.

The lack of urban planning contributed to the high number of fatalities in Haiti. Many of the houses there are built as little as two feet apart resulting in many deaths and injuries when they collapsed.

Archer says in theory it is possible to build an “earthquake-proof” house or building, but it would be very expensive.

“The materials used in building have a small amount of elasticity which limits their ability to flex and sway (in the event of an earthquake),” he explained.

Special carbon materials have been developed in California — a great cost — which improve a building’s ability to shift and withstand earthquakes, he noted.

Most dwelling houses are built to withstand earthquakes measuring five, but bridges as well as larger buildings, such as hotels which are built to last more than 100 years should withstand a Haiti-like experience, Archer said.

Earthquake unit wish list

* A digital network system

* Additional vehcile

* Computers

* Decycles batteris

* Radios

ODPEM wish list

* Specialised equipment for extrication of persons from collapsed structures

* Proper information and maps for authorities, including ODPEM, OPM, the National Environment and Planning Authority and municipal and parish councils

* An islandwide earthquake simulation exercise