ODPEM gets $35.6 Million for Natural Hazard Management

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) has been allocated an additional $35.6 million in the 2010/11 Estimates of Expenditure, currently before Parliament, to continue its Natural Hazard Management activities in urban coastal areas.
The three-year project, which commenced in April 2008, aims to strengthen disaster risk management in towns and cities on the island’s coasts. The move, to this end, will entail the production of a comprehensive multi-hazard disaster management plan for towns and cities; strengthening of parish response capacity through a comprehensive disaster management, training, public education and awareness project; enhancement of stakeholder ownership through active participation in the process from hazard identification to mitigation plan development; and the provision of technical assistance to strengthen ODPEM’s capabilities to fulfill its mission.
Activities effected, up to February, include: development of a model coastal risk plan; completion of a review and analysis of institutional and legal framework aimed at the development of subsidiary legislation to govern ODPEM; submission of a draft of the Parish Communication Plan to ODPEM; commencement of a review of the National Disaster Programme and ODPEM’s organisational structure, and procurement of equipment to upgrade the agency’s telecommunications system, and consultancy services to formulate risk assessment for three major coastal areas.
Activities earmarked for execution in 2010/11 include: development of 28 community risk plans, based on the model developed and submitted to ODPEM; drafting of the bill and accompanying regulations for the Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Act; development of risk management plans for three coastal areas; procurement of equipment to upgrade ODPEM’s telecommunications system; and completion of the consultancy to review the National Disaster Programme and ODPEM’s organisational structure.
The Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) are funding the project.