Designated hurricane shelters in St Ann ready, McKenzie says
ST JAMES, Jamaica— Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Desmond McKenzie, has commended the St Ann Municipal Corporation for ensuring that designated hurricane shelters in the parish are in a state of readiness.
The minister was addressing a press briefing during a tour of designated hurricane shelters in sections of St Ann on Thursday.
Also on the tour were personnel from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and other local government agencies.
The designated shelters visited were the Exchange All-Age School, Ocho Rios High School, St Ann’s Bay Infant and Primary School, Marcus Garvey Technical High School, York Castle High School and the Discovery Bay Primary School.
“It is a privilege to be here, because what I have seen is demonstrating the capacity of the St Ann Municipal Corporation, using the disaster committee to coordinate the [hurricane] shelters across this section of [the parish],” McKenzie said.
“I want to publicly commend the teachers. I went into the bathrooms and you could actually sit in any of [them] and have a meal. That speaks to the level of how the management of the school’s facility has been conducted and I really want to commend the teachers and supporting staff of the schools. The schools are in excellent condition,” he added.
The minister said the Corporation and ODPEM should ensure that if the shelters are used during the hurricane season, they are returned in the same condition in which they were found.
McKenzie noted that St Ann is one of the top-five parishes in the island that are prone to disaster. As such, “we have to pay special attention to the conditions here and the other parishes which struggle during the hurricane season”.
For his part, Mayor of St Ann’s Bay, Councillor Sydney Stewart, noted that the Municipality is happy that the Minister is pleased with the shelters that were visited.
He said that ensuring the shelters were prepared was not an easy task, but the collective efforts of the Disaster Management Committee in the parish, Disaster Coordinator, Alvin Clarke, and other personnel at the Municipality played their part to ensure that they were ready.
“I can safely say that where we are now we can respond to a disaster if it occurs. We are in that position because of the preparations made. We got good support from the Ministry as well as good advice and directives, and those are things that we could not violate. I think we are 90 per cent prepared if there should be a disaster,” the mayor said.
He further commended Clarke for his efforts in ensuring that all parties were duly updated with the work put in to ensure that the shelters were ready.
Meanwhile, Acting Director General of ODPEM, Richard Thompson, noted that there are 867 shelters selected on the island.
He noted that the minister and the team from the Local Government Ministry, as well as ODPEM, have been doing walk-throughs of approved shelters across the country over the past two weeks, and, so far, they have been impressed by the work that has gone in to ensure that the facilities are prepared in keeping with the disaster risk management protocols.