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Lambert Brown, Guest Columnist
AS OUR country struggles to overcome the effect of Hurricane Ivan, it is appropriate that we evaluate how well, as a people we were prepared for the eventualities. Let's face it, living in the tropics as we do, hurricanes and floods are as certain as taxes and death.
I recall as a boy, how my grandfather would get lumber and batten down the windows, check and nail down the sheets of zinc on the roof and ensure that we would be safe once there was news of a storm. He died in 1969 and I still believe that as a country we are not far from his basic level of preparation.
Yes, we now have ODPEM, we have the Weather Channel and we are able to track in detail, minute by minute the path of the hurricane with computer models, but are we better prepared than my grandfather was 40 years ago without these modern devices? I think not. As a country we are still at the reactive stage to the coming of the storm, whilst we are far from prepared for the aftermath of any natural disaster. The truth is we are much too slow in the recovery stage of disasters.
Why do we wait until after the hurricane to establish an Office of National Reconstruction? Did we not expect to ever be hit by natural disaster? Unfortunately, this seems to have been the case. As a country we seem to be collectively hoping that prayers would save us from the storm, forgetting that God helps those who help themselves. Did our Government prepare for the hurricane season by providing in the budget the necessary funds for both preventive and curative operations to mitigate the impact of natural disaster on the country?
ECONOMIC TARGETS
The truth is, too many of our people pay little or no attention to the Budget debate so we don't ensure that our Minister of Finance budget for the rainy day. A couple of years ago the Finance Minister complained of his economic targets being washed away by not one but two major floods in one year; so floods and hurricanes, are as natural to Jamaica as sunshine and our beautiful beaches.
If as a nation we fail to prepare for the expected then we must expect to fail. I first learnt the word "contingency" in the early 1970s listening on radio to Michael Manley and Hugh Shearer debating in Parliament whether enough money was in the budget for the eventuality of natural disasters. At that time I couldn't understand the value of the contingency item being debated when there was no immediate disaster. Clearly they were preparing for the expected and were determined to put away a substantial sum, so we did not have to go begging at the first 'breeze blow'. Such a pity that apart from the plea of our Mayors, our elected government officials seemed oblivious to the need to provide sufficient funds to eradicate potentially disastrous situations on a timely basis.
DESTRUCTIVE CONSEQUENCE
Year after year, we are caught in the same storm surge of unpreparedness with its destructive consequence and somehow we expect that the poor people of Jamaica will be better prepared than those who tax our income and freely spend our money in the interest of party rather than nation. We are ever so quick to condemn the little man who built in the flood-prone area, correctly directing him not to rebuild but never ourselves taking the same instruction of avoiding wasteful and corrupt expenditure.
Regrettably, as a country we are forgetting the positive lessons of our elders. As children we were constantly taught to "put down something for the rainy day". Believe me, this approach to life served us well and allowed those who practised it to survive and recover faster than those who preferred to be spendthrifts. Our young girls were taught never to go out on a date without putting their 'get vex money' in their purse. This led to independence and security and I am sure that teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases were less prevalent because of the anticipatory approach that our elders had to life.
Now it appears that the glitz and glamour of the consumer age with its false standards of success have dulled our sense of preparedness. In the workplaces, unfortunately too many of our workers, tend to live from pay cheque to pay cheque. Not enough workers put aside something for the day when for one reason or another their workplace may be closed down with the reality of no 'next pay day'. I have seen well paid and otherwise stable workers bordering on insanity when due to circumstances beyond their or management's control there are lay-offs or closure of the workplace. It is imperative that as leaders in the society whether we be trade unionists, managers, politicians, priests or whatever, that we inculcate into workers and the society in general a sense of anticipating the expected and even the unexpected. If we do this successfully we will find a society less dependent on alms and grants from others.
INVESTMENT AND GROWTH
We have to encourage workers to save "a little something" even from the very smallest pay that they now receive. Saving is the source of investment and growth, it will be the cushion that protects and saves the worker and his family in those times of disaster whether man-made or "act of God". All workers of necessity must re-examine their expenditure patterns with a view to making the adjustment to achieve saving targets. In addition we need to encourage workers to actively seek out revenue-earning opportunities that could supplement their income and lay the foundation for alternative business opportunities if and when they may become separated from their current employment.
In essence, proper disaster preparedness begins with discipline and efficient fiscal budgeting and the facilitation of real economic growth by well-managed and credible economic policies. This is the basis for generating a culture of preparedness among our people. If Government can spend off all their income and resort to living off borrowed funds, which in effect is other people's money, we should not be surprised that so many in the society follow that bad example. Let the example begin at the head of the stream.
Lambert Brown is first vice-president of the University and Allied Workers Union and can be contacted at labpoyh@yahoo.com.
