TRAGEDY IN JAMAICA: MEMBER of Parliament (MP) for St Andrew East Rural Juliet Holness appeals for serious focus on how houses are built

 BY KIMBERLEY HIBBERT Senior staff reporter hibbertk@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, October 25, 2020

MEMBER of Parliament (MP) for St Andrew East Rural Juliet Holness has made an impassioned plea to her constituents and Jamaicans at large to take serious responsibility for how they settle and where they choose to build houses.

Residents of Shooter's Hill gather to look at where
 Sanique Leachman's body was placed after it was retrieved
 from mud and debris yesterday.

Holness, who was on location in Shooter's Hill yesterday as efforts to recover the body of 15-year-old Sanique Leachman ended, said that over the years many people had settled on land which is not good to build on and because of economic circumstances, they are also unable to erect proper reinforcements to prevent landslides.

“We find that from time to time, we take a chance and many may not have anything happen for many years, but when tragedy hits we understand the difficulty with not having the proper infrastructure around our homes and communities to protect life and property,” she said. more