Safeguarding Portmore - New study to help with the development of disaster plans for at least 10 communities

The Portmore Municipal Council* (PMC) is moving to reduce the risks to residents in the dormitory community if it faces a natural disaster.

With its seashore communities such as Edgewater, Bridgeport, Bridge View, and the Port Henderson Road being vulnerable to storm surges, the PMC recently signed a contract with IH Cantabria for consultancy services aimed at minimising these and other risks.

This contract has been made possible by a grant of just over €300,000 from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

It will allow researchers from IH Cantabria, a division of the University of Cantabria in Spain, access to analyse Portmore, create a disaster-risk management plan, and to formulate a natural-hazard risk profile for the area.

The consultancy is expected to last 18 months. The total project cost is just over €400,000 (J$60 million) with the Jamaican Government putting up €68,860 or 17 per cent of the amount.

"It will be an evidence-based assessment to get international agencies and institutions to see how vulnerable we are. At the end of the 18-month study, the results will be handed over, and then eventually published online," said Georgia Crawford-Williams, a sociological consultant and corporate trainer representing IH Cantabria.

Mayor of Portmore and chairman of the PMC, Leon Thomas, who signed on behalf of the municipality, said that the study is timely, especially as the effects of climate change are being felt locally with more intense hurricanes and extensive flooding. He also noted the risks posed by earthquakes.

According to Thomas, the researchers will use specialised equipment to provide technical assistance to revise the Portmore multi-hazard risk profile and improve its disaster-management risk plan.

"This project will build community-disaster resilience, and aid the council to (make) evidence-based decisions in disaster-risk management.

"It will strengthen community preparedness and response capacity to manage natural-hazard events," added Thomas.

The PMC will serve as a 'guinea pig' of sorts for other communities.

"The lessons learnt here will be taken to other municipalities," said Patrick Watson, senior director of hazard mitigation and risk management in the Ministry of Local Government.

Significant Development

Disaster coordinator at the PMC, Phillipa Ricketts-Edmund, who conceptualised the proposal which was submitted to the CDB for consideration, said that the development is significant as many countries target such funding which is difficult to come by.

"I contacted somebody at the CDB to express a need to improve on the disaster-management framework in Portmore and we had an initial meeting which mushroomed into a more formal request to do a concept note, which then led to a proposal.

"This will improve the capacity of the Portmore council in terms of disaster management," said Ricketts-Edmund.

"We need evidence-based information so if in the future we want to request more tangible help we can substantiate that claim. It is often said that Portmore is vulnerable, but to date, there's still no data to show just how vulnerable we are.

"This is a way to provide documentation so that we can prove to international donors just how vulnerable we are, and as such, we can request more tangible assistance," added Ricketts-Edmund.

In terms of building the capacity of the PMC, the disaster coordinator explained that a database that will be accessible by members of the public will be created online.

She said that persons visiting the website will be able to familiarise themselves with things like storm surge maps, flood maps, or seismic maps that speak to earthquakes.

"So if they are going to do extensions to their buildings, they can now submit plans which would include the necessary mitigation measures based on what they are seeing," noted Ricketts-Edmund.

She said that at least five members of staff of the PMC will be trained in Geographical Information System (GIS) to ensure that when the IH Cantabria team leaves, the database will be fully maintained by the PMC.

According to Ricketts-Edmund, a public-education campaign will be a major component of the project while disaster plans will be created for 10 Portmore communities based on divisional boundaries.

The Environmental Hydraulics Institute IH Cantabria is a joint research centre that carries out research, knowledge transfer and training of specialists in several fields.

* The Portmore Municipal Council was last week granted a name change to the Portmore City Municipality.