ODPEM on Full Alert

Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Richard Thompson, says all systems and personnel are fully activated as Tropical Storm Melissa nears the island.

He said that the agency has been monitoring the system since last Thursday, (October 16).

“To date, we have carried out a number of activities in terms of our general preparation. The parish disaster coordinators, we placed them on standby from very early… from over the weekend, and we were having discussions then with the National Meteorological Service,” Mr. Thompson informed.

He noted, further, that the National Emergency Operations Centre held an operation planning meeting on Tuesday, “to get a good idea as to where we are in terms of our preparation and also to put persons in a frame of mind of the work that we have to do going into the weekend”.

That meeting included representatives of the municipal corporations, parish disaster coordinators, Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), and non-governmental organisations such as Jamaica Red Cross, Salvation Army, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Food For the Poor and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

“So, we got those presentations in terms of our state of readiness, looking at our infrastructure, looking at our humanitarian processes, and looking at our overall national response processes,” Mr. Thompson said.

He noted that a critical part of ODPEM’s activation process is to ensure adequate disaster communication in times of an emergency.

As such, the agency is currently going through its radio protocols to ensure that “the national emergency response team is on the correct call group”.

Mr. Thompson said that preparations have been ongoing since the start of the hurricane season.

“So, the planning meetings will continue as we go into the weekend in order to ensure that we keep the country in a state of readiness, and we are putting in the necessary protocols that are needed to ensure that we are protecting our people,” he assured.

The ODPEM Director General encouraged citizens to continue to prepare and put themselves in a state of readiness for what will come over the weekend.