RONALD Jackson, the acting director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), says a shortage of hospital beds, ambulances and search and rescue equipment will hamper the country’s ability to deal with a crisis if a high-magnitude earthquake should hit.

“I don’t think we are where we would want to be in terms of the level of preparedness for an earthquake,” Jackson told the Observer on Wednesday during an earthquake search and rescue simulation at the National Stadium in Kingston.

In the meantime, Jackson said that while the Jamaica Fire Brigade and Ministry of Health workers were trained to deal with such emergencies, they must be equipped with the necessary resources to conduct massive search and rescue responses for a magnitude seven or eight earthquake.

“.As for the Ministry of Health, they will need additional ambulances and the whole bed space issue is something we need to look at because an earthquake of a magnitude seven could render a lot of persons injured, and there could be a number of persons killed,” Jackson said.

Pointing to Wednesday’s simulation, Jackson said the ODPEM was trying to simulate the likely outcomes should an earthquake hit, given the nature of some of the structures as well as the current challenges in terms of resources.

The simulation, which was conducted at a cost of $3 million, saw volunteers from the fire service trapped under debris while their colleagues simulated a rescue operation to get them to medical attention.

The police, ambulance service, National Works Agency, Jamaica Defence Force as well as medical personnel were also on hand to carry out their functions as they would in a real emergency.