Jamaica’s Municipal Corporation in the western parish of St. James, through its Disaster Preparedness, Hazard Mitigation and Safety Committee will stage a major earthquake simulation exercise on March 28 across the second city of Montego Bay.
This was announced by Disaster Preparedness Coordinator for St. James, Tamoy Sinclair, during a recent meeting of the Disaster Preparedness, Hazard Mitigation and Safety Committee of the Corporation.
The simulation exercise will be carried out in partnership with key stakeholders, including the Ministry of Tourism, The Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) and the Jamaica Information Service (JIS).
According to Sinclair, the drill is aimed at assessing the readiness and responsiveness of business establishments and government agencies in the city to a major earthquake.
“The goal of the exercise is to ensure that we can test for communication and coordination skills for agencies in responding to such a wide-scale event, that would be an earthquake that would impact everyone,” she said.
She said the exercise will be conducted within the context that a crisis situation and significant infrastructural damage have been triggered in the resort town by a high-magnitude earthquake.
She explained that while earthquake drills will be carried out independently by entities across the resort town, the major simulation exercise organized by the Disaster Preparedness, Hazard Mitigation, and Safety Committee will be held at the Jewels Grande Resort hotel in the city.
“For that facility, we might have actors simulating injuries, calling the first responders, who will come in and assess,” she pointed out.
“We are hoping to get as many as we can get to participate to see how individual working stations can test their internal disaster risk management plans that they have in place,” Sinclair said.
“The simulation will give the business community the opportunity to test the emergency procedures that they have in place,” she underscored.
Two years ago, on January 28, 2020, a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit off the west coast of Jamaica, sending tremors through several parts of Jamaica, Cuba and the Cayman Islands. After the earthquake, many government offices, banks and schools made the decision to close early and send home workers and students.
Following this earthquake simulation exercise, Sinclair pointed out that the Municipal Corporation will assist companies with gaps in their disaster management plan to strengthen and streamline the document.
CMC/
