With Jamaica estimated to have some 4.8 million metric tonnes of debris before the passage of Hurricane Melissa, and structures in rural parishes now having to be trashed, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has reassured that the Government is doing all in its power to help with the cleanup efforts, and is happy that 50 new trucks were purchased last year.

Additionally, he has indicated that a balanced approach is still needed, given that the economy has to continue even in the aftermath.

“I know somebody will say this, ‘He just hire the trucks!‘. Yes, we do have a number of trucks hired, but I want Jamaicans to think of the disaster in the broadest sense, that if you were to pull all the trucks out of general operations, what you would effectively do, is slow down all the projects that are going on, all the other economic activities, which puts you back at square one,” Dr Holness said before calling the situation “a delicate balance”.

He was addressing the issue of debris management at a special press briefing on Hurricane Melissa on Wednesday, November 19, at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Andrew.

At this point, Holness indicated that the nation’s trash can be rounded up to five million metric tons at this point.

“Objective number one is to move the debris out of the spaces where people are living… That is about 480,000 standard truckloads to move… I would say, round that up to about 500,000 truckloads,” Dr Holness said.

“The NSWMA, with the resources that they have, I think they have been doing a fantastic job. If we didn’t purchase those hundred and odd trucks, in addition to some other amounts, I don’t know what we would be doing today,” he said.

Holness announced that the government’s response to this is a special team he put together, which consists of Andrew Wheatley and Robert Morgan, who have been assigned to ensure that the debris management process is effectively administered on the ground in specific communities, such as West Green and Catherine Hall, and not general garbage collection.

With the parish of St. James being one of the worst hit, he said the St James Municipal Corporation and the NSWMA have removed some 2,000 truckloads of debris from Catherine Hall and West Green.

Communities badly affected by the passage of Hurricane Melissa are now facing health hazards, with there being 11 reported leptospirosis cases.

He said some 200 persons have been hired and 100 persons from the Jamaica National Service Corps from the Jamaica Defence Force.

“They have been in the space working with the most vulnerable: our elderly, disabled and other persons who are informed or just not able to clean up their own houses and move out their furniture. They are helping and that is having an impact on the community, and we intend to use this model to focus on other areas,” he said.

Some of the other areas the government intends to focus on include Falmouth, St Ann’s Bay, Whitehouse and Bluefields.

With many Jamaicans not the kind to turn trash into treasure and calling for newly constructed homes on the part of the Government, he said, by the use of satellite imagery and various other methodologies to determine the quantity of debris, Jamaica’s truckloads of debris can be seen.

“I want to give hope to the people of Jamaica, that though this figure, almost 500,000 truckloads, is daunting and far greater than we have ever faced, because the challenge is not just to remove the debris, [but] where do you store it and how do you store it safely?”

He said options are being considered for a reduction of the debris, such as recycling, wood chippers and the recovery of scrap metals.

Dr Holness also said the Government has started a process of emergency procurement, and they need as many trucks as possible, and they have started to look into the commercial trade in Jamaica.

Jamaica has recently received four compactor trucks from Prime Minister Mia Mottley and the government of Barbados.

Dr Holness said the Government of China has been asked to support with heavy equipment trucks, compactors and bulldozers to help with the huge problem of debris management.