ODPEM to publish list of marooned and priority communities

Effective today, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) will begin publishing a list of marooned and priority communities for relief distribution.

“The ODPEM will commence publishing also, planned relief supplies such that across the nation our national efforts can be synchronised,” said ODPEM Director General, Commander Alvin Gayle, at a special press briefing on Hurricane Melissa recovery at Jamaica House in St Andrew.

He indicated that only two communities – Petersville in Westmoreland and Ducketts in St James remain marooned at this time.

“To be clear, marooned communities refer only to communities that are completely cut off and solely accessible by air, where no road, be it double or single access, is available,” he explained.

He noted that the two marooned communities received relief drops yesterday.

“I'm assured by the time I'm speaking this morning, we'll also do two other helicopter lifts into those communities,” he said.

The ODPEM head informed that rising water also continues to affect the communities of Content, Comfort and Evergreen in Manchester, and Brighton in St Elizabeth.

Meanwhile, he noted that, to date, more than 80,000 care packages and just over 500,000 meals have been delivered to the national system.

“Since our last press briefing, just about 190 flight hours have been utilised to deliver just over 60 relief supply drops, and we will continue to press hard on this effort,” he said.

He noted that ODPEM continues to direct and coordinate efforts among government agencies, local authorities, the private sector, and international partners to ensure that aid is equitably distributed in an efficiently coordinated process, thereby preventing wastage, leakage, or diversion.

“The development of our disaster relief inventory management system is in the final phase of testing and we expect it to roll out across all our warehouses this week. This will aid in our accountability framework,” Gayle stated.

He informed that the ODPEM, on behalf of the Government of Jamaica, has also received in its stores just over $500 million worth of aid, with a more than 80 per cent rate of distribution for the relief items.

“As we move into the restoration phase or the recovery phase, we'll be pushing out more items from that package,” he said.

He noted that forecasts of isolated showers, thunderstorms and gusty winds, beginning this afternoon and continuing into Thursday morning, may impact relief efforts.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in New Hope, Westmoreland, on October 28 as a catastrophic Category 5 storm.

It left behind significant damage across sections of Trelawny, St James, Hanover, Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, and St Ann.

- JIS News

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