The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) says critical attention is being placed on the management of the national stores which house relief items for disaster assistance.

Acting Director-General of ODPEM, Richard Thompson gave the update at yesterday’s meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

He was responding to the findings of a performance audit to determine whether ODPEM was effectively managing its resources to advance Jamaica’s disaster preparedness and emergency management capabilities.

The report from the Auditor General was tabled in Parliament last December.

As it relates to physical resource management, the report outlined, among other things, that failure to replace defective storage units affected the preservation of relief supplies from mould and pests.

This was observed during site visits from October 2023 to January 2024.

ODPEM reported a $3.9 million loss of relief items in April 2024.

The report also noted that ODPEM’s management indicated actions being taken to address the issues, including stock rotation to facilitate the first in, first out method of inventory management.

Mr. Thompson told the PAC that training of staff is among the measures being taken.