The St Catherine Parish Disaster Preparedness Committee is asking for a budget of $779,250 to prepare for the 2020 hurricane season, while highlighting that the shelters are 85 per cent ready for occupation.
This money, according committee chairman Roogae Kirlew, is for sanitation items for all sixteen parish shelters that have been established.
Kirlew told The Gleaner that the committee met with Ministry of Local Government officials last Friday and shared the hurricane preparedness plan for the parish.
“We want to make sure that the shelters are ready to comfortably house the people that will be brought there in the event of an hurricane, so we did our assessments on the entrances and exits, sanitary facilities, access to running water as well as fire extinguishers, and we are confident that they are about 85 percent ready,” Kirlew stated.
Kirlew added that the early-warning systems in Riverlie, Jericho and Bog Walk are presently been serviced, but there are lingering concerns about the tsunami siren alert in Old Harbour Bay that has been non-functional since November last year.
