Gov’t Strengthening Jamaica’s National Disaster Response Capabilities

The Government continues to strengthen Jamaica’s national disaster response capabilities.

Addressing the recent National Disaster Risk Management Council Meeting, Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, outlined several measures currently being undertaken.

“Steps have already been taken to strengthen ODPEM (Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management), including its organisational review, new hires, upgraded posts, staff welfare measures, and planned training,” he said during the meeting, which was held at the Office of the Prime Minister.

Dr. Holness noted that ODPEM is an “absolutely important institution” that must now evolve into Jamaica’s National Resilience Organisation, equipped to help the country anticipate, withstand, respond to, recover from, and adapt to major shocks without disrupting essential services, eroding public confidence, halting economic activity, or impairing the machinery of government.

He added that the Government will continue implementing measures to reposition the agency, ensuring it is more fit for purpose.

“In effect, ODPEM is an essential service… [but]… it is not described as such in law. I know there were discussions to categorise it as such but it is something… that we will have to discuss, because we need to reposition ODPEM,” Dr. Holness said.

In November 2025, ODPEM was reassigned to the Office of the Prime Minister following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

A new Director General, Commander Alvin Gayle, was appointed. Seconded from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), he now leads the agency with a mandate to streamline operations and strengthen its overall effectiveness.

Dr. Holness added that the decision to reassign the Ministry of Defence and ODPEM to the Office of the Prime Minister is intended to establish a clearer centre of coordination for emergency logistics and to reduce fragmentation in relief efforts.

“ODPEM remains the central agency for disaster preparedness and emergency management but it must be better integrated with the JDF’s logistics, command, discipline, mobility, engineering, communication, and reach,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Holness advised that the Government will continue investing in the JDF to enhance its operational capabilities, particularly in search and rescue.

“One area in which we’re going to have to adopt very quickly is in immediate airlift for communities that are marooned or cut off in the immediate hours following a hurricane. That was a real challenge [during recent events] in getting to those communities that were cut off, including search and rescue. So, the Government will be making some announcements… about further investments in the logistics, transport, and operational capabilities of the JDF,” Dr. Holness said.

Additionally, he explained that to improve the way external support is received, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister and the United Nations Resident Coordinator will co chair the International Disaster Committee.

Dr. Holness added that the country will continue to build resilience into critical entities and public buildings such as hospitals, police stations, and fire stations.

In the meantime, he cautioned that Jamaica cannot persist as an informal society, stressing that informality undermines recovery efforts.

“It hampers relief… it hampers reconstruction. This mentality that you can go and build anywhere, live anywhere, and somehow the State must know that you are there, when you don’t want the State to know that you are there… then you say – ‘you didn’t come to me’… well we didn’t know you were there because it’s not documented,” the Prime Minister stated.

Dr. Holness added that the establishment of a single database would eliminate the need for individuals to register separately for assistance.

“The challenge we face is that every grant that we’re going to give… the persons getting the grant have to be registered. You had to go through a registration process in COVID-19 to get the grant.

Then you had to go through a registration process in Hurricane Beryl and you had to go through a registration process in Hurricane Melissa.

“If there were just one unique registration number with your registration ID linked into a national database, there would be no need for this very laborious process where errors are made and duplications occur, which slows down the process,” he said.

Dr. Holness further indicated that the Government will advance a resilience impact assessment framework to guide major policies, programmes, infrastructure, investments, and strategic projects.

“Significant public investment must be assessed, not only by cost, procurement readiness or economic return, but also by their contribution to disaster and climate resilience, continuity of essential services, protection of vulnerable populations, national security, environmental sustainability, community adaptive capacity and long-term financial risk reduction,” he said.

The Prime Minister underscored that resilience must be established as a pre disaster governance standard.