Respected chartered accountant Dennis Chung has been appointed chairman of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM).

The announcement was made on Wednesday (May 29), during a National Disaster Risk Management Council meeting.

He succeeds former chair Joy Hamilton, who was appointed in October 2019.

Chung, in his remarks, said he is aware of the critical importance of the National Disaster Risk Management Council and ODPEM in ensuring Jamaica and its citizens are shielded from the impact of natural disasters.

“While we speak about disaster management and impact, we must be reminded and educate the public consistently about what the dangers are and also educate the people about what the situation would be if the ODPEM was not in place,” he said.

As Chung takes on this new leadership role at ODPEM, he said the next step is to improve the preparation for disaster resilience.

“It is better for us to build resilience and have minimal impact than just talk about response. We need to do this because inevitably a disaster will occur, especially with the impact of climate change. In Southeast Asia, just last week it was 50 degrees Celsius. What is the impact of that? The impact of that is that it affects livelihoods. For people who would be out working, numbers are going to fall significantly,” he said.

He said disaster management should include three phases: disaster resilience, management of the disaster, and response.