Chronic Conditions: Why Jamaica's Crises Keep Repeating

Dump fires, disease outbreaks and water lock-offs are not bolts from the blue. They are chronic conditions that flare into crises.

Dr. Peter Edwards
3 min read

In 2015 I described a string of Jamaican emergencies, including fires at the Riverton City dump, the chikungunya outbreak and water lock-offs during drought, as “manufactured crises.” I did not mean that anyone set out to create them. I meant that all the ingredients were present long before they erupted. They could have been prevented, or at least contained.

What the crises have in common

None of these problems is unique to Jamaica, and several are driven by forces we cannot fully control, such as weather and disease. But their impacts can be reduced and contained before they become national emergencies. The pattern is the same each time: a chronic condition is left untreated until it flares.

The chronic conditions

The list is long and familiar: poor solid waste management; irregular mosquito control made worse by litter; building in swamps and floodplains; degraded water catchments; water lost to leaks and unauthorized connections; treated wastewater left unused when farms need it; paved-over land and concrete gullies that stop rain from recharging groundwater; and public facilities left to deteriorate.

Treat the condition, not the flare-up

The solutions have more to do with management than money. Agencies need up-to-date policies backed by budgets, clear reporting lines, transparency in appointments and contracts, and qualified professionals in key posts. Citizens have a part to play too: reducing and separating waste, conserving water and clearing mosquito breeding sites. The same logic applies to climate risks. Drought and hurricanes will return; whether they become crises depends on what we do in between. Times are hard, which is all the more reason to get the basics right. We can do better, we must.

Adapted from “Jamaica: The Land of Manufactured Crises” (guest column, 2015).