Disaster Emergency Communications System Provided Critical Support During Hurricane Beryl

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) says the use of the Disaster Emergency Communications System was critical for sharing information throughout the passage of Hurricane Beryl.

The system provides a single platform for disaster management entities to communicate, which allows emergency responders access to a single space to receive updates on incidents islandwide, so they can formulate the necessary responses.

Project Engineer with ODPEM for the Jamaica Project for the Improvement of Emergency Communication, Mr. Dane Lawrence, said the system provides a simple two-way radio network.

“The end user devices are distributed among key personnel who are already participants in the various disaster management processes. You know it as a walkie talkie, but it is a digital network right across the island that allows key personnel to be on an exclusive network – a secure space, so they can report on the various incidents that are happening and in real time get the response,” he said.

Mr. Lawrence was speaking to JIS News last night (July 4), following the debrief of the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), at ODPEM’s Headquarters on Haining Road, in Kingston.

This network is established on various telecommunications infrastructure. It is an encrypted network, so persons cannot hack into it to hear sensitive information nor share information without authorisation.

“We are still in the process of implementing this system. Hurricane Beryl proved an opportunity to give the system a test and we were able to programme devices and distribute them among the various parish emergency centres. All the parish emergency operating centres had their base centres. They were able to check in with the NEOC and give various updates as they were notified of the happenings within their parishes,” he said.

The use of the system proved particularly helpful during instances of downed telecommunications networks, because it is an exclusive network designed for emergency communication.

“The anticipation is that we will take possession by the end of July. We are currently going through a process where we are training the end users and the various persons who will interact with the network as to how the system works and the various kinds of protocols for communicating over the network,” he said.