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EDITORIAL - Preventable man-made disasters
published: Tuesday | November 28, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
The bungling Keystone Kops of the <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">silent </SPAN><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">films</SPAN> of the early 1900s would find good company among some of our public officials. We are told that Port Maria, the St. Mary capital, is below sea level and vulnerable to flooding when it rains. We would, therefore, expect that this fact would be taken into account when infrastructure developments are planned and implemented for the town. Yet, within a few hours last week, Port Maria was flooded, leaving residents and business people marooned - apparently because a recently-constructed bridge was built too low thereby converting it into a dam for a river that was in spate.
<SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Local </SPAN><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Government</SPAN> Minister Dean Peart has since said a new bridge is to be built three feet higher.
We have often lamented the lethargic or inadequate preparations for known flood-prone areas ahead of the rainy seasons. With the country experiencing a quiet hurricane season and not much rain for most of this year, the state of preparedness of the public infrastructure has not been put to the usual test for the wider public to assess.
In the case of the bridge in Port Maria, however, it is doubly ironic that little attention seems to have been paid to the warnings of people who live and work there that it was being built too low. Now public funds must be spent redoing what should have been done properly in the first case.
Once again we are left to question the adequacy of supervision and management of public projects such as in this bridge construction. On the other hand, mudslides, <A class=kLink oncontextmenu="return false;" id=KonaLink2 onmouseover=adlinkMouseOver(event,this,2); style="POSITION: static; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" onclick=adlinkMouseClick(event,this,2); onmouseout=adlinkMouseOut(event,this,2); href="http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20061128/cleisure/cleisure1.html#" target=_new><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: A
EDITORIAL - Preventable man-made disasters
published: Tuesday | November 28, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
The bungling Keystone Kops of the <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">silent </SPAN><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">films</SPAN> of the early 1900s would find good company among some of our public officials. We are told that Port Maria, the St. Mary capital, is below sea level and vulnerable to flooding when it rains. We would, therefore, expect that this fact would be taken into account when infrastructure developments are planned and implemented for the town. Yet, within a few hours last week, Port Maria was flooded, leaving residents and business people marooned - apparently because a recently-constructed bridge was built too low thereby converting it into a dam for a river that was in spate.
<SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Local </SPAN><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Government</SPAN> Minister Dean Peart has since said a new bridge is to be built three feet higher.
We have often lamented the lethargic or inadequate preparations for known flood-prone areas ahead of the rainy seasons. With the country experiencing a quiet hurricane season and not much rain for most of this year, the state of preparedness of the public infrastructure has not been put to the usual test for the wider public to assess.
In the case of the bridge in Port Maria, however, it is doubly ironic that little attention seems to have been paid to the warnings of people who live and work there that it was being built too low. Now public funds must be spent redoing what should have been done properly in the first case.
Once again we are left to question the adequacy of supervision and management of public projects such as in this bridge construction. On the other hand, mudslides, <A class=kLink oncontextmenu="return false;" id=KonaLink2 onmouseover=adlinkMouseOver(event,this,2); style="POSITION: static; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" onclick=adlinkMouseClick(event,this,2); onmouseout=adlinkMouseOut(event,this,2); href="http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20061128/cleisure/cleisure1.html#" target=_new><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: A