On August 17, when a hurricane watch was issued for Jamaica, Prime Minister of Jamaica Portia Simpson-Miller convened an emergency meeting of Jamaica's national disaster preparedness council. The Jamaican government finalized evacuation plans, which included converting the country's national arena into a shelter and relocating inmates from two maximum security prisons. Political parties in the island suspended their campaigning for the August 27 national elections to allow residents to prepare for the storm. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), which was already responding to Hurricane Dean's impact in the Lesser Antilles, contacted the Jamaican Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management to confirm technical and logistics support, and to notify the Jamaican government that utilities teams had been placed on standby should they be needed. The North-West Caribbean Donor Group also met to consider what action might it might undertake in Dean's aftermath.