NIDS, tech would have helped to expedite hurricane damage assessment, relief – PM Holness

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has placed emphasis on the importance of the country implementing the National Identification System (NIDS) in light of the losses suffered since the passage of Hurricane Beryl last month.

This, he shared, would have helped to expedite the Government’s disaster relief assistance to displaced Jamaicans.

The Government began distributing its Beryl relief assistance on Monday.

Speaking recently at the official launch of the Rebuild Jamaica initiative by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) in partnership with the Global Empowerment Mission (GEM), Holness pointed to the previous challenges encountered in conducting assessments to determine citizens who required government assistance.

Referencing the extent of damage caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, Holness said that each time there was an emergency, an MLSS representative has to journey to each affected community, and ‘ask every one of the impacted individuals a long list of questions’ as a means of verifying their identity.

Describing this as a time-consuming process, Holness said, “every time there is an emergency, I look back at it and say, ‘if we had it (NIDs) earlier, we would have been able to more efficiently and quickly distribute benefits’.”

He added that these experiences can, however, be used to help strengthen and improve the NIDS system.

The prime minister said that while the system has not been “perfected,” the Government does have in place a robust verification system through the tax registration number (TRN) and was “very close” to the establishment of a national identification system where all a beneficiary would need to do to establish his identity is to present a NIDS card.

“Nobody from the ministry would have to come again and ask – so what’s your mother’s name? What’s your father’s name? What’s your TRN number? What’s this? What’s that? Who you related to?” he continued.

“So, for the Government to be able to move the distribution from eight weeks as it were after Hurricane Ivan to now four weeks thereabout, shows that we have made significant improvement,” Holness said.

FALSE CLAIMS

NIDS has been promoted as a unique, reliable, secure method of verifying a person’s identification. It will require assigning each individual a distinctive and lifelong national identification number, and offer a thorough and secure framework for the collection and preservation of personal identity data for Jamaican citizens and those who typically reside here. It will become the primary tool for identity assurance and verification.

In February, the Government announced its intention to complete and launch Phase One of the NIDS enrolment and issuance of national identification cards during the 2024/25 financial year.

Holness highlighted that another issue that the Government faces during times of assessments, was in identifying what was actually damaged as a result of the latest natural disaster.

He warned of the possibility of scams being perpetuated during this process whereby a person’s home gets destroyed before a natural disaster strikes, but the individual claims that the damage was caused recently.

“So, when we go to do assessments, we have to employ more technology. Because in today’s world the capabilities exist that you can look at a community from the satellite and see which house was standing before Hurricane Beryl and which house is not standing,” he said.

Holness said that although the system used by the Government does not currently use this degree of advanced technology, it should be taken into account for upcoming disasters in order to provide quicker and more precise damage assessments.

“Of course, you still have to do what is called ‘ground truthing’. You still have to go into the field and actually inspect but it would help to eliminate those false claims,” he added.

Holness said that although it was a tough request, the MLSS should make an effort to distribute all cash grants before the end of the back-to-school season. “I appeal to you, to your better conscience, to your love of country to put in the effort to ensure that your fellow Jamaicans, many of whom have no bed, have no clothes, have nowhere to live, their children don’t know how they’re gonna go back to school, have that compassion to put in that effort ... show that empathy for the people who are suffering ... to deliver these benefits to them as quickly as possible,” he said.