{"id":3384,"date":"2020-09-14T18:44:41","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T18:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.odpem.org.jm\/?post_type=odpem_in_the_media&#038;p=3384"},"modified":"2020-09-14T20:36:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T20:36:53","slug":"hurricane-gilbert-served-as-a-catalyst-for-disaster-risk-management-framework-odpem","status":"publish","type":"odpem_in_the_media","link":"https:\/\/www.odpem.gov.jm\/?odpem_in_the_media=hurricane-gilbert-served-as-a-catalyst-for-disaster-risk-management-framework-odpem","title":{"rendered":"Hurricane Gilbert Served as a Catalyst for Disaster Risk Management Framework"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>KINGSTON, Jamaica\u2014 Head of the <span style=\"background-color: yellow\">Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)<\/span>, Richard Thompson, says Hurricane Gilbert served as a catalyst for Jamaica&#8217;s disaster risk management framework and how \u201cwe prepare for hurricanes as a country\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>September 12 marks 32 years since Hurricane Gilbert made landfall and caused extensive damage to road infrastructure, housing, hospitals, and industries \u2013 particularly the banana industry, where the entire crop of export bananas was wiped out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some 800,000 people were also displaced and had to seek shelter. There were 45 deaths recorded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGiven the level of damage and destruction and the number of deaths Gilbert caused, it would have been the catalyst to our disaster risk management framework and our planned development in-country. Our national disaster plan would have come about after Hurricane Gilbert and new standards of how we look about our housing stock and infrastructure,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo, Gilbert would have set the stage for an in-depth assessment into hazard risk reduction, disaster risk management and would have put us on the platform where we are today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hurricane Gilbert was the most intense hurricane of the 1988 North Atlantic Hurricane Season, and was only surpassed by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. It was also the first hurricane to make landfall in Jamaica since Hurricane Charlie in 1951.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thompson said its aftermath influenced the way many approach life in relation to meteorological events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt has changed the culture of our people, even though we still have persons who believe we won&#8217;t be impacted and refuse to move from those low-lying areas that are flooded on a regular basis. We see changes in how communities react to disasters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPersons are paying more attention to hurricanes and when we give the bulletins persons pay keen attention. People are constructing better. Now people are building more for practicality, given the region in which we are in. A lot of houses back then did not have hurricane straps and now it is a mainstay in terms of housing construction,\u201d Thompson added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hurricane Gilbert moved relatively quickly through the island from east to west as a Category 3 hurricane, with wind speeds ranging from 111 mph to 129 mph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3385,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_angie_page":false},"odpem_news":[],"class_list":["post-3384","odpem_in_the_media","type-odpem_in_the_media","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odpem.gov.jm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/odpem_in_the_media\/3384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odpem.gov.jm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/odpem_in_the_media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odpem.gov.jm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/odpem_in_the_media"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.odpem.gov.jm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odpem.gov.jm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"odpem_news","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.odpem.gov.jm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fodpem_news&post=3384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}