On October 28, 2025, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm causing catastrophic damage on the island, particularly in western parishes. In response, the Government of Jamaica (GoJ)  has launched various initiatives including supportjamaica.gov.jm as the central hub for public donations and volunteer registration. Along with expected GoJ budgetary allocation, foreign governments and multilateral agencies have pledged funding and humanitarian aid to Jamaica, including provision of relief supplies.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) is a statutory body under the Office of the Prime Minister (previously under the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development). ODPEM serves as the secretariat to the National Disaster Risk Management Council (NDRMC) and has overarching responsibility for disaster risk management across Jamaica. Under the Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management Act, ODPEM is mandated to promote and coordinate disaster preparedness and emergency response by developing and implementing integrated management systems nationwide.

The main objective of the real-time audit is to assess the transparency and accountability of resources received and utilised under the Hurricane Melissa Relief Initiative. Specifically, the audit seeks to determine whether internal controls are adequate to prevent any potential fraud, waste and abuse of public resources during disaster response and recovery, by assessing whether; (a) proper IT controls exist over www.supportjamaica.gov.jm website, (b) proper accounting and record keeping of all donations (including funds and supplies) received and distributed to affected individuals by the GoJ, and (c) procurement activities complied with the applicable laws, regulations and guidelines. The audit will be planned and conducted in accordance with the Guidance on Auditing Disaster Management (GUID 5330), issued by the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) along with applicable  AuGD’s Audit Manual and Auditing Standards.

We value your relevant comments to our audit which can be communicated by completing the relevant fields on our feedback form or email us at [email protected].    Please note that due to the volume of information received, we may not respond to you directly; however, we thank you in advance for your response.