PERCEPTION OF THE LANDSLIDE HAZARD

The destructive potential of landslides, damage caused, and their role in the degradation of the watersheds have been summarized above.
Sediment supply as a consequence of landslides has reduced the storage potential of water reservoirs. During the rainy periods the water intake for the Mona reservoir is always choked with fine landslide debris.
Landslides frequently damage water supply pipeline.
Road cuts are prone to slope failures.
Slopes made bare by landslides are the sites of accelerated soil erosion and appear to be a major cause of watershed degradation.
Landslide debris frequently chokes the rivers which results in overbank flow and flooding.
Landslides recurrently affect agricultural lands, fruit trees and crops.
It follows from the above discussion that in KMA landslides are a force to reckon with and should be considered as a serious and recurrent natural hazard in KMA.
The general perception of the urban population living on a relatively flat area, however, is that following heavy rainfall landslides will occur on the mountainous roads and are regarded as erosion due to flooding.
As far as we know, there is no insurance cover available for landslides.
If a landslide blocks a road, it is the job of the Public Works Department to get the blockage cleared and depending upon the funds available carry out repairs.
Since individual landslides are not such spectacular events as a hurricane or an earthquake and only directly affect a small section of the population at any locality, they are regarded as an inconvenience.
Moreover, since the indirect effects and economic costs of landslides are not visible to a majority of population, landslides are not regarded as a serious hazard.
The society, therefore, tends to follow the NIMBY approach when dealing with this hazard, which is- as long as it is not in my backyard, why bother.
Public interest in landslides is aroused only in the cases of spectacular events that make news headlines because people are killed, injured or buried under the debris. This happens frequently in areas with a high population density.
In Jamaica, although landslides are frequent, fatalities and injuries are low because of low population density in hills. However, this picture is changing rapidly.
People are moving into hills because of the high rentals in the relatively flat areas of the Liguanea Plain.
Traffic congestion has forced people to use such hilly roads as Jacks Hill Road and Skyline Drive. This has resulted in a significant increase in the number of motor cars on the landslide-prone roads.
During the October-November 1998 rainfall, it was a common sight to observe road-users greatly inconvenienced by landslides, some were unable to make it to their workplace.
In some cases, public and private passenger vehicles were observed to negotiate through active landslides while the road crews were removing landslide debris.
Since the public is now more exposed to landslides, the potential for injuries and fatalities has also increased. Since 1991, death and injury as a result of landslides on the island seem to be a regular news feature.