KINGSTON, Jamaica – Two agencies of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development will be conducting a sensitisation exercise targeting residents in communities prone to flooding.

Portfolio Minister, Desmond McKenzie, said the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and the Social Development Commission (SDC) will spearhead a comprehensive programme of visits to those areas. They will aim to educate persons about the potential danger they face in the event of severe weather, and the steps they should take to safeguard themselves.

McKenzie was speaking during the third in a series of semi-virtual town hall meetings, which the ministry hosted at the St Mary Anglican Church Hall in Port Maria, on Thursday, July 21.

He said the sensitisation exercise and other similar engagements are imperative, particularly against the background of more than 70 per cent of Jamaica’s population and substantive infrastructure being located along the island’s coasts.

Of note, he pointed out, only three of Jamaica’s parish capitals are not situated by the sea.

These, the minister said, are Spanish Town in St Catherine, May Pen in Clarendon and Mandeville in Manchester.

McKenzie said while Jamaica has not been directly hit by a major weather system for the last five years, “we have been impacted” by several that have passed through the region.

Consequently, he said the government will continue “doing as much as we can to sensitise the Jamaican people [about] the [potential] dangers we face.

“When Mother Nature speaks, we [must] take the steps that are necessary to prevent the loss of lives. We must be proactive; and how can we be proactive? We must listen to the warnings, take heed [and evacuate, when advised],” he underscored.