Gov't considers review of evacuation protocol for disasters

 

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, says the government will have to review its evacuation apparatus to deal with hurricane threats in the future.

 

Speaking in the Senate on Friday, Senator Johnson Smith has said too many residents ignored evacuation warnings put out by the government while Hurricane Melissa was bearing down on the island.

 

She said this is a major concern for the administration.

 

"Last I recall, speaking with my colleague about how they evacuated in Cuba, 750,000 people evacuated prior to Melissa - 750,000 - while we in our very free society, the flip side of that very great freedom which we enjoy, is the people in Port Royal saying, 'Man, storm nah come', and they not moving. So they were blessed this time, but people who sat in St. Elizabeth, saying 'storm nah come' had a very different experience. So it really is, there is much that we have to change in behaviour, cultural change as well the economic, and of course, construction and other elements," she outlined. 

 

Meanwhile, Senator Johnson Smith said the government is attempting to relocate residents still living in school shelters, but there is some resistance. 

 

"I understand that there are people who are refusing to move into tents even though all over the world where there's a disaster, a tent is perfectly appropriate shelter. We apparently have a cultural sensitivity to it and there has been some resistance. So this is something that we want to look at more closely," she admitted.

 

She said the government will use the Christmas period to speed up the relocation process, while reconstruction teams from Ghana, Rwanda and Guyana will build temporary housing for people who have not yet left shelters.