The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) says the relatively low rate of cash expenditure from donated funds following Hurricane Melissa was not due to inaction or a lack of recovery activity.

The agency says it reflected prudent financial management in light of the availability of almost $J400M in donated building materials and sundries which were already supporting the government-directed roof repair programme.

The explanation from ODPEM follows the tabling of the Auditor-General’s Hurricane Melissa Relief Initiative Audit Report yesterday.

Among other things, the report stated that only $26 million out of the over $1billion donated to Jamaica for Hurricane Melissa relief was spent up to February.

In its response ODPEM says it takes the Auditor General’s findings seriously.

On the matter of utilisation of donated relief funds, ODPEM states that funds received in response to Hurricane Melissa were intended to support national relief interventions to support the shelter recovery programme.

It explains that in February 2026, ODPEM formally sought approval for the regularization of funds donated in response to Hurricane Melissa in keeping with the government’s public financial management, accountability and reporting requirements.

This was necessary to ensure that the donated funds were properly treated as public monies and incorporated into the approved budgetary framework before further expenditure could be undertaken.

ODPEM says it had also indicated its intention to utilize approximately J$500 million of the regularized funds to support government and partner-led repair initiatives under the shelter recovery programme together with other approved relief and recovery projects including those aligned to donor intent where applicable.

It adds that the pace of expenditure must therefore be understood within this wider context.

ODPEM says the relatively low rate of cash expenditure from the donated funds was not due to inaction or a lack of recovery activity.

Rather, it reflected prudent financial management by ODPEM in light of the availability of almost J$400 million in donated building materials and sundries, which were already supporting the government-directed roof repair programme.

An ODPEM statement says the availability of these in-kind materials reduced the immediate demand for additional cash-funded purchases of similar building supplies.

ODPEM says it therefore sought to avoid unnecessary or duplicative expenditure from the donated funds, preserving those resources for other approved recovery priorities as the needs of the post-Hurricane Melissa recovery programme continued to evolve.

To date, approximately J$135 million has been expended from the fund in support of the government-directed roof repair programme.

Some 461 roof repairs have already been completed, and the programme continues to be implemented with the support of the Jamaica Defence Force and other ministries, departments and agencies.