The spilling of 300 tonnes of sulphuric acid in the Kingston Harbour on Saturday, September 12, 2009, highlights the gaps in the island's management capabilities and capacities for holistic disaster management. It also speaks to the inadequacy of current legislation (the Natural Resources Conservation Authority Act, 1991; the Wildlife Protection Act, 1945; Wildlife Protection Act (Amendment) Order, 1998; and the Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management Act, 1993) to deal effectively with issues such as these.

Single agency

The two agencies, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management and the National Environment and Planning Agency share the mandates to address such incidents. However, there is need for one agency with the responsibility to manage not only events associated with natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and storms, but also occurrences of explosions or fires, chemical, fuel or oil spills and gas leaks. That agency would also be responsible for infestations and epidemics.

Multi-disaster prevention

The approach of a single agency should be holistic, focusing on multi-disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness. In the case of chemicals, preventive measures would require strict pre-development conditions of approval/permit/licences and an annual post-development com-pliance monitoring of the company's activities. Where chemicals are being used or produced above a predetermined quantity, there should be an annual renewal of licences.

The creation of a streamlined institutional techno-legal frame-work would foster the integrity of an enabling regulatory environ-ment and a compliance regime.

I am, etc.,

BEVERLINE BROWN-SMITH

Environmental Planner

EPN Consultants Ltd

enviroplan@cwjamaica.com

Kingston 20