Jamaica College (JC) Principal Wayne Robinson says despite the school suffering infrastructural damage from the effects of Hurricane Beryl, he is grateful that the institution was not severely impacted by the Category 4 storm.

“I looked at Munro and I am giving thanks because I don’t know what on earth we would have done. We can’t complain about anything at all because it really, in context, is nothing compared to what I have seen,” he said.

Robinson explained that the roofs for two buildings on the campus were lifted during the hurricane while some trees and light posts fell.

“The main thing was that the roof of the Hardie building was lifted, so they [Ministry of Education] started to do the assessment of that work and also the roof of one of the first form blocks, so they started that work…and we are hoping that we will be ready for school, those were the main infrastructural damage, and trees, of course, fell down and we had a couple of light posts going down as well,” he explained.

However, Robinson added that alongside the impact of Beryl on the all-boys’ school’s infrastructure, there was damage to the World Bank building from the estimated 5.6-magnitude earthquake which jolted Jamaica last year October at approximately 10:57 am.

“We were impacted significantly by the earthquake because the World Bank building had significant cracks and structural damage that is being addressed now. The ministry has started the procedures for work and they should finish by school starts in September,” Robinson told the Jamaica Observer last week.

He added that while work is ongoing at the school to fix the building, plans are also in place to adequately prepare students for earthquakes and other natural disasters, given the frequent earthquakes impacting the country since last year.

“Our drill will start early because clearly, over the last two years, we have had a number of shakes, so we will have our earthquake drills that the boys will know exactly how to react in the face of an earthquake,” he said.

Robinson credited the cooperation of the JC Old Boys’ Association, noting that it has offered to provide megaphones and other supplies to assist in preparing the school, and the students, for natural disasters.