CASE STUDY OF BOG HOLE, JAMAICA: BUILDING CAPITALS IN DISASTER THROUGH LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
Abstract
This paper details the qualitative analysis of data collected about a 2017 flood in the community of Bog Hole, Clarendon in Jamaica during February-May, 2018. The data aimed to answer the how did the local knowledge on disaster risk reduction strategies enhance the capital base of this area, as well as how did it contribute to poverty eradication within the context of disaster management. The data was analysed through the lens of a framework that amalgamated the principles of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework and the Disaster Management Cycle. Both frameworks enabled the author to present a context that addresses the external and uncontrollable factors or attributes that influence and affect people’s assets and livelihoods and how they utilized their local experiences and history to overcome these situations to build the assets (capital) that are crucial for the pursuit of positive livelihood, while utilizing the main tenets of the disaster management cycle, namely: Preparedness, Mitigation, Response and Recovery. The study found the main natural capital of the area is also a source of hazard to the area. However, it is their local knowledge that has afforded them the technical knowhow of how to seize the opportunities from the pond as a capital in periods of disaster and normalcy. The residents of the community have accepted the inevitability of the floods, because of their geographic location, the knowledge systems that they have developed over the years to cope with floods and the way in which they control the market post disaster. Thus, the study shows that in the face of the recurrent disaster, residents have found a way to stimulate rural trade and finance, develop a tourism product and by so doing, have increased their income generation. The study highlights that a disaster has different meanings for different farmers in the same space. This working paper is therefore making a recommendation for further studies on the transient nature of vulnerability to natural disasters in rural spaces in Jamaica.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v0i0.477
Copyright (c) 2018 Tamika A. Peart
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