Movement to Increase the Safety of the Public of Jamaica

In Jamaica, within the last two years, there have been an ongoing movement to increase the safety of the public. This can be proven by various initiatives carried out by organizations, including the Government which provided training and development of first responders, enabling them to be better prepared to handle emergency situations. For instance, in February of 2016, the Jamaica National Foundation and the Jamaica Automobile Association launched their First Responders Programme in Runaway Bay, St. Ann with their main objective being to minimize the loss of lives among crash victims. In November of the same year, the United States (US) Embassy provided a four week Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) training course which provided demonstrations for the different stages of the decontamination process in the case of a CBRN incident. Valued at J$25 million , the US Embassy donated equipment to the Jamaica Fire Brigade that will help to minimize or negate the vulnerabilities and/or effects of a CBRN incident. Despite these efforts, the public still continues to express their disappointed in the response time of first responders. Furthermore, there have also been numerous appeals to the public by the nation’s law enforcement for information on criminal activities. Many studies have been conducted which highlights how social media has played a major roles in assisting first responders in emergency events. In November of 2011 for example, a Facebook page was created for the floods that affected the City of Genoa in Italy. The page was used to communicate with citizens and to organize support and rescue activities. Furthermore, during the Morakot typhoon that affected Taiwan in 2009, social media was used for gathering information requesting assistance and for helping rescuers acquire the position of affected persons. The aim of this research is to examine how social media can help first responders to improve respond time and awareness which will improve