Members of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management Chorale perform a selection during the church service to commemorate Disaster Preparedness Month at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in St. Andrew yesterday. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Bruce Golding has called for the implementation of a national grid to plot and monitor water-ways, gullies, drains and culverts to help streamline disaster-mitigation strategies.

The Opposition Leader's recommendation came via an address read by Member of Parliament, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, at the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) service to mark Disaster Preparedness Month at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in St. Andrew yesterday.

"This is part of what disaster preparedness must mean," Golding's address read. "We cannot expect the public to take its role seriously if we don't take ours seriously."

Meanwhile, Harry Douglas, Junior Local Government and Community Development Minister, implored the public to support the ministry and the ODPEM in efforts to prepare the country for a national disaster.

"It is my belief that the ministry and ODPEM cannot work in isolation, but will need the collective energy and action of all citizens," the minister said in his address.

Ronald Jackson, acting director general at ODPEM, said the agency would be launching a public education campaign this month to encourage best practices in the event of a disaster.

Jackson said yesterday the campaign would target schools and business places.

"This awareness must result in the implementation of more active preparedness measures to effectively reduce our risk to those hazards that regularly affect the country," he said.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1-November 30.