THE Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) said it is taking steps to boost its stock levels to be able to efficiently respond to displaced persons in the event of a hurricane.

Acting director general Ronald Jackson said ODPEM will be working with local partner agencies to be able to respond to at least 32,000 displaced persons.

“What we are looking at is being able to respond to 32,000 persons being displaced as a threshold and then we look at how we can make the connection with our international partners if we have to go beyond that amount,” Jackson told the Observer.

Scientists have predicted a very active hurricane season with up to nine hurricanes and 17 tropical storms. So far the season, which officially began on June 1, has seen two named storms – Alvin and Barbara – but neither has caused serious damage.

According to Jackson, approximately 32,000 persons were displaced by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. He said, however, that while it is difficult to predict the number of persons that would be affected, severe displacement was not expected even in the case of a direct hit like Hurricane Gilbert which affected over 800,000 persons in 1988.

“I don’t expect that we will have another 800,000 persons displaced from another direct category three impact because I think we have managed to do some work with the roofing because a lot of those persons lost roofing,” he said, noting that improved building practices accounted for much of the success.

Officials, he said, were trying to gauge the maximum stock levels that can be kept on hand.

“We are looking somewhere in the region of 32,000, we are not there now for many reasons but we are trying to get there over time to see how best we can get to that type of storage capacity,” Jackson said.

The disaster agencey, however, currently does not have all the supplies needed in place. Last week Local Government and Environment Minister Dean Peart said there had been a delay in getting supplies but said efforts were being made to complete the purchases before the end of the month.

Jackson, in the meantime, told the Observer that the delay was primarily due to the fact that ODPEM had been toeing the line in keeping with government procurement guidelines and the suppliers have been slow in delivering.

“The funds have been in place, the contracts have been issued according to government procurement guidelines but there is delay now in terms of the supplier as the awardees have been a little slow in completing that task,” Jackson explained, noting that some $20 to $24 million is to be expended in stocking the required bedding, protective gear and other shelter items.

He said the Office would be approaching the National Contracts Commission to ask for leave to make direct contact with overseas suppliers.