Pioneering Past and Bright of Impactful Research and Scholarly Achievements

“EXCELLENCE THROUGH KNOWLEDGE” P A G E 25 Ensuring the Safety of Schools from Disaster Vulnerabilities Garfield Young 1 , Nilza Aples 2 & Laurence Neufville 1 1 Faculty of the Built Environment 2 Faculty of Engineering & Computing The Jamaica Safe Schools Project (JSSP) is part of the Jamaica Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project (JM DVRP). The JSSP is funded by the World Bank in the sum of US$210,000. It involves the training of over 100 students from the Faculty of the Built Environment (FOBE) and the Faculty of Engineering and Computing (FENC) in the use of comprehensive templates developed by the World Bank, to carryout infrastructural inspections of all 971 public schools in Jamaica. These inspections provide critical information for building a database on the infrastructural elements of the schools to assess their disaster vulnerabilities. The JSSP was launched in May 2017. Lecturers from both FOBE and FENCE were trained to train the selected students in the use of the templates for school inspections. Over 100 students were subsequent trained and a pilot study done of all schools in Kingston and 5 in St. Andrew. The pilot analysis informed adjustments to the templates and the school inspections proceeded with schools divided into three phases. Up to the end of January 2018, about 400 of the 971 schools have been inspected and the data uploaded to a secure database. The project is expected to end in the summer of 2018. This project forms a critical element in understanding the vulnerability risks of these key public buildings, many of which are designated shelters in times of natural disasters. The comprehensive knowledge will help to inform strategies to improve the infrastructure of public schools in Jamaica. Editor’s Note: This project is directed jointly by: Dr. Garfield Young (Dean, Faculty of the Built Environment) and Prof. Nilza Aples (Dean, Faculty of Engineering & Computing) and is managed by Mr. Laurence Neufville, Head of School, School of Building and Land Management, Faculty of the Built Environment. Garfield Young NilzaAples LaurenceNeufville