Dennie Quill, Contributor

The last few years have been trying ones for the Caribbean and the indications are that strong hurricanes will dominate our weather pattern for many years to come. Besides, we remain vulnerable to other natural and man-made hazards including earthquakes. It is a feature of life which we must accept and we have no alternative but to prepare for the worst of these events.

Disaster preparedness means taking steps to reduce preventable death, injuries and economic loss. Preparation is always better than recovery. But Jamaicans continue to take preparedness lightly with the perfunctory dismissal in relation to hurricanes, - 'it naah come'. Scores of people insist on living on the edge, literally. Crudely constructed zinc and wooden structures can be seen on river banks and along gully courses where they remain at high risk of earthquake, flooding and wind damage. People continue to build houses of straw and the authorities allow it. The inevitable tragedy is what we witnessed during Gustav when some of these houses were swallowed by the raging Hope River. The script is predictable, the only difficulty is pinpointing the exact location that will be the subject of national pity.

Flood hazard

During the height of the hurricane season in July 2005 I wrote the following:

'The planning authorities need to take a long hard look at building codes for commercial and residential developments. The microscope should be turned on flood plains and ocean front properties to see whether tougher building standards are required. Persons who need assistance in elevating their homes should be given help. And once a flood hazard area is cleared, there should be strict enforcement to prevent anyone from erecting new buildings. There has to be the will power to enforce land use regulations.

One cannot overstate the importance for citizens to reduce their risk from natural disaster, because irresponsible actions often lead to enormous social and economic costs. They are the ones who demand help when their actions lead to catastrophe."

So I welcome Prime Minister Bruce Golding's announcement of a task force which will define and hopefully enforce the 'no-build' boundary. But before we get ahead of ourselves let's not forget that squatting is a hot-button topic and involves the poorest in society, so unless the Opposition signs on to this new determination to enforce the law, these efforts will come to naught.

Every householder with the physical and mental capacity to comprehend the dangers of a disaster has the responsibility to see to his own preparedness by assessing his risks and making appropriate plans to minimise them. But we continue to disrespect and disregard the environment to our peril.

Insurance coverage

The parish disaster committees established under the auspices of the ODPEM need to evaluate their effectiveness in mobilising community action. It is not OK to jump into action when a hurricane is barrelling down on us. There are important pre-disaster matters to consider such as disaster-linked insurance coverage for householders including farmers.

The parish councils should use the services of the Jamaica Information Service's 'town crier' to get people to move out of harm's way. There should also be liberal use of text messages and cellphones to enforce warnings and emergency alerts. Warning sirens should be sounded repeatedly on radio and television

I assume that disaster preparedness is taught in schools and every effort should be made to elevate this subject to a place of prominence within the education system undertaking 'learning-by-doing' scenarios which the children can demonstrate to their parents.

While Jamaica is counting more than a dozen deaths after Tropical Storm Gustav we notice that Cuba evacuated nearly 200,000 people as it prepared for the onslaught and so far we have not heard of any deaths there. We cannot prevent hurricanes but we can mitigate against their impact, but we can only do this if we learn from past experience.

Feedback may be sent to denniequill@hotmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com