With the 2023 hurricane season starting today, students from the Building Studies Division of the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology (SJPI) are busy with the construction of a hurricane-resistant building slated for use by the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) for the storage of emergency supplies for use in the aftermath of a storm.
The building is being donated to the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) by the Barbados Canada Association (BCA).
In January this year, a site visit was conducted by representatives from the BCA, DEM, and SJPI and the group commissioned the SJPI to construct the building.
Last week, representatives of the BCA visited the SJPI, where construction is in progress.
Brenda Osbourne, Deputy Principal of SJPI, expressed the institution’s gratitude to the Barbados Canada Association for engaging the institution.
She explained that the institution welcomed the opportunity, as it permits students of the Building Studies Division to hone skills gained over the past year.
Albert Scheper, the local representative for the BCA, explained that:
“the initiative to donate the building came about because the organization recognized that in the aftermath of a catastrophic event, it becomes difficult for those in need to access essential items.”
The design drawings for the building were prepared by the Architectural Drafting students, and the Carpentry students are carrying out construction under the guidance of instructors from the Division.
The Atlantic basin hurricane season begins today, and the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) forecasts 12 to 17 named tropical storms, five to nine of which could become hurricanes.
On July 2nd, 2021, Barbados sustained significant damage from Hurricane Elsa, the first hurricane to hit Barbados since 1955.
Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of nearly 74 miles per hour.