ODPEM’s Post-Hurricane Damage Assessments Ongoing
By: , July 11, 2024
Photo: Yhomo Hutchinson
Acting Director General, Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Richard Thompson, addressing Wednesday’s (July 10) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.The Full Story
Acting Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Richard Thompson, says Hurricane Beryl post-disaster and damage assessments are ongoing.
“We have now completed our activities in St. Thomas and we are now focusing mainly in the most affected areas. The damage assessment is being done along the southern side and the team is working out of the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), and that is being coordinated in its totality by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management,” Mr. Thompson said.
He was addressing Wednesday’s (July 10) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
Mr. Thompson shared that the assessments are being conducted by the National Emergency Geographic Information System (GIS) team, with international support from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), as well as the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), which are providing drone support.
“We are using all the technologies, now, that we have at our disposal to ensure that we’re getting adequate information to influence our damage assessment. We also did, very early after the passage of the hurricane, an aerial reconnaissance assessment which was supported by the Jamaica Defence Force, and the ODPEM team was a part of that. The areas being assessed are being mapped extensively by our National Emergency GIS response team,” he explained.
Mr. Thompson reasoned that the information being gathered is critical, as it will form the basis of the Damage and Loss Assessment (DALA) report that will be compiled by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ).
“What we are trying to ensure is that all the information is collected, all the impacted communities are visited and assessed, so we can get a true picture as to what has happened, so that can influence our damage assessment and our post-disaster needs assessment,” he stated.