There are many citizens who refuse to obey the law and there are times when those who have the authority to enforce the law have failed to do so.

A returning resident has outlined the difficulty she faced to remove squatters from her land.

"There is no wonder that people have been allowed to live on river banks which, during hurricanes and storms, cause great harm and even loss of lives in some cases," the returning resident said.

"I have watched the news and hear comments that for many years people have been building houses along river and gully banks. I asked myself, who has the authority to stop such buildings taking place?

"Those who have the authority must act in order to prevent citizens from building houses in areas which are dangerous to them. Now that Tropical Storm Gustav has hit Jamaica and damaged or washed away some of those houses, I firmly believe that some government agency should be held responsible for allowing persons to build houses in those areas.

Six months

"I must now refer to my situation, which turned out to be very costly for me when I discovered that people had squatted on my land. I had an agent looking over my land but he was ill for just six months and, within that time, several people squatted on my land.

"I came to Jamaica the next year and although I went to several government agencies, seeking assistance to get the squatters off my land, I got no help. I had to pay a lawyer to take the case to court to get an order for the squatters to vacate my property and it turned out to be very expensive for me".

The Town and Country Planning Act states, in part, under section Section 3, that permission must be granted by the planning authority for the erection of buildings. However, many of the persons who build houses near to river banks and gullies are usually squatters. The government will have to put special plans in place or pass a special legislation to prevent persons building houses in those areas.