ODPEM NDMC 2008

Background Information

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) presents the fifth installment of the National Disaster Management Conference (NDMC) to be held March 6-7, 2008. In cooperation with several non-government agencies and private companies, the 2008 Conference will address two very important areas of risk management and risk reduction: slope landslides and earthquakes. These have been identified as two of the most critical subject areas in the national and regional disaster management dialogue.

The NDMC is an annual event that addresses issues of grave concern to disaster management practitioners and governments across the Caribbean region and worldwide. The Conference programme will include speakers from across the field in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean and other parts of the world and will provide excellent opportunities for networking with experts and practitioners in Disaster Management/Planning, Risk Reduction, Emergency Response, Business Continuity, Disaster Management Research, Information Technology, Community Planning, Risk Management, the Environment and many more areas closely aligned to the work of the ODPEM and the organizations and businesses that supply and service these professions.

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THEME

The 2008 Conference theme will be:

“Furthering the Risk Reduction Agenda – Slope Instability and Earthquakes”

Landslide Risk

Landslide hazards have been a major social, economic and environmental concern to Jamaica for years. Increase in rainfall and storm activities, changing land use and land degradation have exacerbated the incidences.

The encroachment of buildings and infrastructure on steeper and marginally stable land, clearance of land in response to continued urbanization and development and population growth have also combined to increase the probability of this hazard occurring with greater frequency.
In Jamaica landslides have caused injury, death, numerous financial losses and damage and destruction to housing, infrastructure and economic facilities of varying degree. It is therefore prudent that we seek to identify and implement policies and strategies to mitigate the effects of this hazard. It is also critical that the approaches and strategies identified be sustainable.

Earthquake Risk

Since the 1907 earthquake Jamaica has perhaps only experienced three significant tremors of note: the 1957 Montego Bay, the 1993, and the 2005 earthquakes. These three events provided the emergency management agencies and Jamaica’s policy-level personnel with a number of lessons, most of which we have yet to effectively address namely:

 The search and rescue (SAR) capability at the community level;
 The finalization of the review of the National Building Code;
 The vulnerability of the utilities and manufacturing sectors;
 The need to re-establish a national telecommunications system capable of providing communication traffic during and after major emergencies/disasters;
 The building of the capacities of the critical response agencies; and
 The awareness of the hazard among the general population.

The last three or so years have been replete with discussions on the possibilities of tsunamis affecting Jamaica and the level of preparedness of the country for such an eventuality. The earthquake felt among several Eastern Caribbean countries and the tsunami scare it rendered have again made this very clear not only to Jamaica but the wider Caribbean. The time is now opportune for us to engage the dialogue to bring forward a meaningful path to inform and spur the planners and policy level actors into action.

The experts believe that, without a doubt, another massive earthquake will occur. In fact, it is believed that we are within the 80–110 year window of recurrence of magnitude 7 earthquakes. Are we ready? The population and infrastructure has grown significantly since the last magnitude 7 event. What are the new challenges that we now face? How will our critical infrastructure and utilities fare? What are the planning considerations? How can we prepare for and mitigate as much as possible the effects of such devastating events?

NDMC 2008 will bring together a wide cross section of players to answers these and many other questions and forge a new path in Jamaica’s and the wider Caribbean’s response to the earthquake threat.

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AUDIENCE

NDMC 2008 delegates will be predominantly practitioners from all levels of government and the private sector including: utilities, insurance, communications and numerous other industries, hazard, physical and social science researchers as well as development specialists and businesses. NDMC 2008 will be an ideal opportunity for academics and researchers to communicate and network with these practitioners.

It is anticipated that attendees will be drawn from member states of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) and from the CDERA Coordinating Unit in Barbados. A special effort will be made to attract private sector and civil society interests including the sectors such as information technology, tourism, health, agriculture, public utilities and transportation, as well as the insurance and financial sectors given the implications of disaster impact on these key societal elements.

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CONFERENCE GOAL

A major goal of NDMC 2008 is to enhance the efforts of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) in Jamaica to continue to lead in facilitating the dialogue and action towards the shift from a response driven hazard management programme to an integrated risk management approach.

The specific objectives of the conference are to:

 Facilitate the sharing of information on landslide and earthquake risks, new research, trends, emerging technologies, tools and innovations, and best practices that can be employed to reduce the risk and vulnerability to these hazards.
 Begin to foster the development of capacities in risk management, including vulnerability reduction.
 Identify and foster networks and partnerships in the area of slope stabilization and earthquake planning and management.

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CONFERENCE FORMAT

The conference will be organized around five key themes presented in five Sessions:

Key Themes:

1. Lessons Learnt from Past Events
2. Risk Assessment
3. Loss Reduction Strategies
4. Risk Transfer
5. Response

Authors and/or presenters are encouraged to submit abstracts, which relate to any of the key themes.

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PRESENTATION FORMATS

Presentations will be conducted in the form of Plenary Sessions and Concurrent Panels:
Plenary Sessions

Plenary session presentations will last for 1½ hour and have broad appeal. Each plenary session will feature a panel of three members, a moderator and a recorder. Each member of the panel will give a 20-minute presentation followed by 30 minutes of general discussion involving the general audience.

NDMC 2008 will feature two such plenary sessions:

 Plenary Session 1: “Earthquake and Landslide Science in the 21st Century,” March 6, 2008, 10:50 a.m. to 12:20 p.m..
 Plenary Session 2: “Young Professionals and Graduate Students Special Segment,” March 7, 2008, 9:00 to 10:30 a.m.

Concurrent Panels

NDMC 2008 will feature three concurrent panels appearing in each of the five Sessions for the duration of the Conference. Each panel will last for 1½ hour and will be of a more in-depth nature, allowing participants the option of focusing on areas of personal or organizational interest. Each member of the panel will give a 20-minute presentation followed by 30 minutes of general discussion involving the panel audience.