12/05/2026
What if the first person on the ground after a disaster wasn't a government official, but a trained community member with a drone?
That's the future the Jamaica Flying Labs and Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) are committed to building in Jamaica, one pilot at a time.
During a recent training, participants from media, forestry, academia, and national agencies took to the skies for the first time, learning to fly, map, and capture data in communities like Doheny Park, a flood-prone area that knows all too well what's at stake.
The training wasn't just about drones. It was about trust. About making sure that when the next storm hits, local people are ready, with the skills to respond and the data to bring help faster.