Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, says the Government has been proactive in getting emergency shelters across the island ready for the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are not going to make any apologies to anybody for being proactive, because I would rather say to the country, \u2018we did what we should\u2019 instead of saying \u2018I am sorry that we did not,\u201d he said, following a tour of facilities in St. James on Friday (July 9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minister, who has been touring emergency shelters across Jamaica over the past weeks, said that based on the visits, the designated facilities are in a \u201cstate of readiness\u201d to safely accommodate persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cElsa passed through last week; it was downgraded to a tropical storm. When we opened the shelters, persons went to the shelters and it is a good sign that people are listening [to the weather alerts],\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the meantime, Minister McKenzie lauded the work of the Disaster Coordinator for St. James, Tamoy Sinclair, and her team, for getting shelters in the parish prepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that St. James, particularly the Montego Bay area, has a history of flooding, and as such, the necessary measures must be put in place to protect the lives of residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have also ensured, through the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and the municipal corporations, that all attempts must be made, if there is an event, for persons to be taken to the shelters and to do everything that is possible for them,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minister, along with the Minister of State, Hon. Homer Davis, visited shelters in Albion, Mt. Salem, Flanker, and other areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For her part, Ms. Sinclair pointed out that the shelters are organised in keeping with the coronavirus (COVID-19) health and safety measures, taking into account the number of persons per room and physical distancing. She noted that the facilities are equipped with isolation rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are ensuring that whenever we are expecting any emergencies that they (persons) will be well taken care of,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3634,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_angie_page":false},"odpem_news":[],"class_list":["post-3633","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\/3633","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\/3634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odpem.gov.jm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"odpem_news","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.odpem.gov.jm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fodpem_news&post=3633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}