St. Elizabeth Advances Hurricane Recovery Readiness With UNDRR Workshop

St. Elizabeth has moved to sharpen its disaster planning, with parish and national stakeholders meeting on Wednesday (June 3) at Junction Guest House for a Recovery Readiness Assessment Framework Workshop.

The session resulted in a planned roadmap and final report intended to support future planning, resilience work and recovery measures in the parish, often referred to as Jamaica’s breadbasket. It was mounted by the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, working with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the St. Elizabeth Municipal Corporation.

Patrick Watson, Senior Director for Hazard Mitigation and Risk Management in the Ministry, told JIS News that the activity was meant to help participants examine how ready St. Elizabeth is for recovery after disasters and identify gaps that should be addressed.

He said the points raised during the workshop will be pulled together by UNDRR and its consultants into the final report, which is expected to inform the parish’s planning going forward.

“The intention was to have the worst affected parishes looked at first. St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland were among the parishes worst affected by Hurricane Melissa. So, on Friday, June 5, we will be going to Westmoreland to have a similar intervention,” Mr. Watson outlined.

“We are also hoping that with the additional support from the UNDRR, we’ll be able to do all the Municipal Corporations, certainly St. James, Trelawny and Hanover… parishes that were also significantly impacted by the hurricane,” he added.

Mayor of Black River and Chairman of the St. Elizabeth Municipal Corporation, Councillor Richard Solomon, said the timing was important, given Jamaica’s entry into the 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season. He noted that the parish is looking beyond immediate response, with attention also on helping communities recover better and become stronger after future emergencies.

Councillor Solomon said St. Elizabeth has continued, since the hurricane, to review how it can rebuild in a more resilient way, and that the workshop forms part of that wider process.

“So, this workshop [looked] at framework, strategies, how we can put the necessary pools together to ensure that, in the event that there’s any sort of disaster… not only a hurricane… we are better able, not only in terms of responding but also in terms of recovery,” he explained.

The workshop included representatives of government agencies, emergency responders, utility interests, community organisations and development partners.

Participants came from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Jamaica Public Service Company, National Works Agency, Jamaica Constabulary Force, Jamaica Fire Brigade and the St. Elizabeth Health Department. Community representatives and non-governmental organisations also took part.

Christopher Lopez Maciel, Manager of Resilient Infrastructure Recovery for Local Governments at the UNDRR, said the broader aim is to give local parishes the systems, tools and institutional understanding needed to “build back better” and reach “recovery readiness” after disasters.

“The UNDRR is working to support countries in the accomplishment of a framework that has four areas – improving risk knowledge, then working in the governance, then the financial muscle for reducing the risk and, lastly, the recovery readiness,” he underscored.