Good Morning Ladies & Gentlemen,

As you are aware, the ODPEM will be staging the 5th annual National Disaster Management Conference (NDMC) from March 6-7, 2008. It will be held at the Rosehall Resort and Country Club in Montego Bay, St. James.

This year’s Conference will address two very important areas of risk management and risk reduction: landslides and earthquakes.

A major goal of NDMC 2008 is to enhance the efforts of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) 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. Through a carefully designed programme, conference participants will share and examine information on landslide and earthquake risks, trends, emerging technologies, tools and innovations and best practices that can be employed to reduce the risk and vulnerability to these hazards.

To this end we will be playing host to an eclectic mixture of participants who will be sharing, networking and learning from each other about these two major hazards to Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.

Please see attached the NDMC 2008 Agenda that will give you a better idea of the mixture of presentations that will indeed make this an NDMC never to be forgotten, as well as the Conference's concept paper:

To all those who will not be able to attend this year's Conference, you can contact us for copies of any presentations of interest to you.

Thank you again for your continuing interest and partnership in the work of the ODPEM.