Dear Editor,

In the wake of one of the most tragic and catastrophic disasters to impact the Western Hemisphere in recent memory, we are reminded of the fragility and frailty of human life. In one fell swoop, our dreams, goals, and ambitions can be wiped out at the hands of Mother Nature. The earthquake in Haiti, which has so far claimed at least 150,000 lives, could easily have occurred in Jamaica.

The fault line on which the earth’s crust fatefully shifted runs from Haiti and extends west to Jamaica. The destruction that has befallen the people of Haiti could have easily been Jamaica’s burden to bear. The outpouring of aid and assistance to Haiti by ordinary Jamaicans is quite heartening. In the midst of our own economic hardships, we have summoned the will to assist our neighbour in a time of tremendous need. Still, we should use this tragic moment to think about what we can do to make sure that we prevent such a calamity from befalling our own people.

Although an earthquake like this strikes without warning, much of the death and destruction can be prevented. Much of the loss of life in Haiti was caused by the poor building codes that result from extreme poverty and ineffective government. As the images which have been broadcast across the airwaves show us, many of the homes in Haiti were literally built atop one another. This should remind us of some of our own poor building standards. Are parts of Haiti any different from certain areas within our own country? How would some of our dense settlements in Jamaica fare at the hands of a similar disaster? How would Flankers, Glendevon, Matthew’s Lane, Grant’s Pen or certain parts of Mountain View look after such an event? I imagine that the devastation in Jamaica would be on par with that of our Caribbean neighbour.

It is in times like this when we are made to count our lucky stars for escaping the sometimes heavy hand of Mother Nature that we need to take actions to protect our future well-being. Not only can the devastation in Haiti prompt us to take a look at our own building codes and the integrity of our construction process, it can give us the moral authority to engineer much-needed social and communal change. Many of the most blighted neighbourhoods across our country suffer from the same poor construction and urban design that led to the preventable loss of life in Haiti. We could use this calamity as an opportunity to engineer progressive social change through infrastructural change and redevelopment. If we can develop and enforce proper building standards, we can use these standards not only to promote structural safety but to dismantle some of the most poorly planned communities in our country.

The potentially deadly planning and design (or lack thereof) within these communities may not only lead to catastrophes of the type seen in Haiti but it also promotes social decay, breeds rampant criminality and expands the urban blight that has besieged our aesthetically endowed nation. Not only must our government satisfy our humanitarian responsibilities to our brothers and sisters in Haiti, but we must also look beyond that and consider the tragedy as a unique opportunity to engineer much-needed social change within our own shores.

In the greater interest of the welfare of the people of certain socio-economically devastated areas, we should begin a sustained programme of dismantling and reconstructing some of these communities. Not only would it serve to ensure the safety of the tens of thousands of Jamaicans who live there, but it could very well act to extinguish much of the poverty and criminality that have run rampant in these areas. It is high time that our leaders begin to govern proactively rather than reactively in order to make the tough but necessary changes to ensure the growth and stability of our fair island in the sun. Let Haiti’s tragedy be our lesson.

Din Duggan

Atlanta, GA

dkduggan@hotmail.com