Holness implores Jamaicans to 'shelter in place', even after curfew lifted

Declaring that Jamaica has not yet seen the worst damage Hurricane Beryl could cause, Prime Minister Andrew Holness is urging citizens to continue to shelter in place.

Holness, who was speaking at a press briefing at the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management's Command Centre, said there are still a few hours to go before the passage of the system which is south of the island.

“The curfew is to be lifted at 6 p.m. today but we still encourage residents to maintain a level of alertness and awareness and to shelter in place until you hear the all clear which will come from ODPEM. That means you should be able to move about but with caution.

“Generally, I would say that we have not seen the worst of what could possibly happen. We still have a few hours to go, so we should maintain our position of readiness and continue to pray for Jamaica's safety. We can do as much as we can do that is humanly possible and we leave the rest in God's hand,” said Holness.

The prime minister on Tuesday declared the entire island a disaster area for the next seven days, imposing a 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. curfew for today.

At the same time, Holness noted that the real test for his government and state agencies will come after the hurricane when he said citizens will judge the speed at which they are able to respond.

He said, so far, his administration and the agencies have done “very well” to inform the country about the storm's passage.

“We started very early. We gave the public information. We pointed them in the direction of legitimate, accurate information; official information. All the channels were open. So there's no one who could say they were not aware or they didn't know… On that score we should be judged fairly well,” said Holness.

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