The head of Jamaica’s disaster management agency on Friday recommended criminal sanctions for people who violate building regulations.

Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) Director General Major Clive Davis made the suggestion at a function held to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the deadly 1907 earthquake that devastated Kingston.

“Rules, regulations and codes for construction are good, but without compliance we are nowhere. There must be enforcement to guarantee compliance… There must be criminal charges for violators of building regulations,” Davis said.

“You can understand the mood of ODPEM when buildings under construction collapse, or when block makers are found producing substandard blocks. I do believe that this should be a criminal offence,” Davis added.

Historians regard the magnitude-6.5 earthquake that hit Kingston on Monday, January 14, 1907 as one of the world’s deadliest ever.

The earthquake, which struck about 3:30 pm, left more than 1,000 people dead, most of them in fires triggered by the tremor and its aftershocks. Approximately 9,000 people were left homeless and the aftershocks continued for the remainder of the year. Damage was estimated at £2 million.

Two years after the quake, a monument was erected at the site in Bumper Hall in Kingston where 500 victims, whose remains were unrecognisable, were buried in a mass grave.

In his address at the commemoration ceremony at Bumper Hall, Davis suggested that earthquakes should serve as a catalyst to do better.

“The past is history, they say; the future mystery, and the present a gift. Let us use this gift to our advantage. We have to take lessons from the past to make them inform our behaviour today,” he said.

Davis further recommended that developmental plans correlate with the island’s location in a vulnerable seismic zone, which experiences an average of 200 earthquakes annually.

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, in her address, lauded ODPEM for highlighting the importance of earthquake preparedness. She noted that the monument sits in her constituency and serves as a reminder that people should always be prepared for natural disasters.

“Natural disasters do not discriminate in their impact. They affect everyone, therefore, may this monument also remind us that we are all one people,” Simpson Miller said.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment/ Sport and Olivia “Babsy” Grange, in her remarks, noted that the island’s building code was changed as a result of the 1907 earthquake.

Grange pledged to preserve the monument through the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT), which falls under her portfolio.

“We will be rolling out a maintenance plan at all heritage sites owned by the JNHT. We will be partnering with the KSAC, which owns this site and other sites, to ensure that all monuments are maintained,” she said.

From now until March, ODPEM will be conducting an earthquake awareness campaign to emphasise the importance of preparing for earthquakes.

—Racquel Porter