Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has indicated that while every effort is being made to remove the millions of metric tonnes of debris left behind in the wake of Hurricane Melissa from the spaces where people live, the Administration is still grappling with options for the proper storage of that refuse.

“By the use of satellite imagery and various other methodologies for determining quantity of debris, I believe it is the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) that published something which estimated that we have about 4.8 million metric tonnes of debris. I would say round that up to five million metric tonnes of debris, that is about 480,000 standard truckloads to move. I want that to sink in,” Holness outlined during Wednesday’s special press briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew where he and other Government officials updated the nation on the State’s recovery efforts.

“I want to give hope to the people of Jamaica that though this figure of almost 500,000 truckloads of debris is daunting and far greater than we have ever faced… the challenge is not just to move the debris [but] where do we store it and how do we store it safely. And so, we are examining all the options, including recycling, using the wood chippers to reduce the wood, including, having a structured approach to the recovery of scrap metals, and other such strategies to make sure that we can properly manage this debris; but objective number one is to move the debris out of the space where people are living,” Holness said.

He said with communities all over Jamaica, such as West Green and Catherine Hall in St James, badly affected and now at risk for potential health hazards, a special team has been engaged to ensure that the debris management process is effectively administered on the ground in specific communities.

“Not general collection, but we have to do some targeted collection of debris; for example, in West Green and Catherine Hall. I am pleased to say the National Solid Waste Management Agency, in addition to the efforts of the mayor of Montego Bay, have by now removed close to 2,000 truckloads from Catherine Hall and West Green,” Holness told the briefing.

He said another 200 individuals have been hired and positioned in addition to the deployment of the Jamaica National Service Corps from the Jamaica Defence Force to work with the “most vulnerable”, such as the elderly, the disabled and other persons who are infirmed who are just not able to clean up their own houses or move their furniture.

“We intend to use this model to focus on other areas. We have in our sights communities in Falmouth and St Ann’s Bay, Whitehouse and Bluefields and those areas that have been significantly impacted. There is the very difficult situation in Black River as well. In further support of that I have mobilised the Urban Development Corporation to take on some specific communities,” the prime minister stated.

Additionally, he said the means of transportation of the garbage is also being addressed.

“We have started the process of emergency procurement. We need as many trucks as we can get so we have started to look in the commercial trade here,” he said, adding that he has asked Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley “to see what they have in their jurisdiction that we can purchase or could be loaned or granted to us”.

“Prime Minister Mottley has kindly offered us four compactor trucks, which will be of great help to us, and we have asked the Government of China to support us in this regard as well, with heavy equipment — trucks as well as compactors, bulldozers, and so forth — to help us with this huge problem of debris management,” Holness said.

Stating that it was a “delicate balance to treat with the emergency without creating another emergency,” Holness said the Government was deliberate in choosing to acquire more trucks.

“I know there might be somebody saying, ‘just hire the trucks’; yes, we do have quite a number of trucks hired, but I want Jamaicans to think of the disaster in the broadest sense; if you were to pull out all of the trucks out of general operation what you would effectively do is slow down all the projects that are going on, all the other economic activity, which puts you back at square one,” he reasoned.

“What you really want to do is keep our economy growing and growing faster while you find parallel and alternative ways of dealing with the disaster that exists. So yes, we will be using private trucks, as many of them as we can, but we know that as many trucks that we take out of the private trade that’s a construction project that is slowed up or an operation that has to stop, so it is a limited resource that we have to manage very carefully. So we have to expand the internal capacity of the various entities that are charged with this debris management,” he pointed out.

“So yes, it’s a big issue; we are working on it. We take note of the reports out of the Ministry of Health where we have seen some cases of suspected leptospirosis, the other cases of water-borne diseases. I take this opportunity to appeal to all Jamaicans, be super careful in your environment,” Holness said.