Natural Hazards Atlas of Jamaica

The authors have creatively and persuasively designed an atlas of Jamaica focusing on the four principal natural hazards of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and landslides in order to increase government and public awareness of hazards in the context of the islands developmental and environmental problems. The work is divided into three sections in which the authors consider the physical geography of Jamaica; detail the common hazards that commonly affect Jamaica, and provide maps of each Jamaican parish indicating models of each hazard at a local scale. The atlas is accessible to decision makers in central and local government, students and teachers in both secondary and tertiary institutions, and local communities. The academic challenge of putting the atlas together has been executed with painstaking detail and with considerable technical expertise and flair. The authors are to be congratulated on successfully negotiating the huge task of compiling detailed geo-coded information on natural hazards from both historical and contemporary sources and spatially correlating this information with salient features of Jamaicas human and physical geography and geology. The result is an engaging collection of maps which offer fascinating insights into the multiple hazards that impact Jamaica.David Barker, Head, Department of Geography and Geology, University of the West Indies, Jamaica Co-published with the Mona Geoinformatics Institute, University of the West Indies, Jamaica. See more