Catastrophe looms

Hundreds of Jamaicans living in Clarendon's southern coastal region could be exposed to a disaster of cataclysmic proportions if the island gets hit by a major weather system this year. 

That frightening possibility was highlighted on Thursday by local scientists who pointed to the fact that approximately 1,600 hectares of the 3,500 hectares of mangroves stretching along the coast between Milk River and Salt River in Clarendon have been destroyed by human activity and intense weather systems, including Hurricane Ivan, which devastated Portland Cottage and other communities along that coast 19 years ago.

The scientists from The University of the West Indies (UWI) Solutions for Developing Countries (SODECO) shared their concerns at a forum staged in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation at Halse Hall Great House in Clarendon and which served as a Jamaica Observer Press Club...Read more