ODPEM targets children for earthquake awareness
Published:Friday | January 21, 2022 | 12:06 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) will today partner with Portmore’s parish disaster coordinator to facilitate an earthquake drill in Sovereign Village in the municipality to gauge community awareness, readiness and response to an earthquake and its potential secondary hazards.
This is just one of the activities hosted by the ODPEM to encourage Jamaicans to become more proactive as it ramps up its public awareness campaign under the theme: ‘Re-engineering Earthquake Response Practices During COVID-19’ as it observes Earthquake Awareness Week from January 16-22. This year’s focus is on strengthening the public responsiveness of Jamaica’s children and youth to decrease their vulnerability to earthquakes.
To this end, ODPEM has disseminated earthquake awareness videos to the ODPEM YouTube pages and websites and schools will be able to access these videos for sensitisation and educational purposes.
On Wednesday, FLOW handed over 1,000 shelter management vests and 250 emergency shelter signs, valued at more than $3 million, to the ODPEM for support of its National Shelter Management Programme at its 2-4 Haining Road, St Andrew, office. The vests are designed to provide visibility of the shelter managers and the signs will allow for clear identification of all approved shelters.
Expressing gratitude, Acting Director General of the ODPEM Richard Thompson said the donation would further strengthen the long relationship between the entities.
In response, Vice-President and General Manager of FLOW Jamaica, Stephen Price, said the telecommunications giant was very mindful of the importance of preventing and mitigating the impact of disasters on Jamaicans and the local economy, particularly during this time when the country is grappling with the ravages of an ongoing pandemic.
“The increasing intensity and frequency with which disasters are being experienced worldwide demonstrates that there is a critical need to enhance and support the government during periods of disasters and continue to do so in very practical ways.”
He pointed out FLOW had done this by, among other things, enabling the use of two-way radios as a means of telecommunications in the event of natural disasters or crisis situations. It had also facilitated broadcasts of ODPEM emergency text messages to customers on its network on a 24-hour basis, so people can stay in touch and know what’s happening at any given time.
In addition, it had also facilitated the erection of UHF/VHF antennas at FLOW sites islandwide and by providing technical support to enable efficient transmission of emergency communication. Currently, it hosts the platform that facilitates the public’s access to weather alerts 24/7 from anywhere in Jamaica by dialling 116.
Speaking with The Gleaner afterwards, Thompson underscored the importance of equipping vulnerable populations with the knowledge to inform their response in the event of a disaster.