Cabinet has approved a massive, nationwide disaster drill to take place in July.
The exercise comes as the Caribbean braces for higher-than-average tropical storm and hurricane predictions for the region.
In an interview this week, CEO of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) Stephen Ramroop said the organisation had received approval for the drill, which would test the responsiveness to threats by citizens, state agencies and private organisations.
“Every person in the country will be asked to participate in the drill. People in their homes could complete a small drill, pack disaster bags; people can walk to shelters, and hospitals will be asked to have drills in their key departments,” Ramroop said.
“We aren’t asking people to cripple their services but to drill certain parts of it. We want to get as many people as possible on this day.”
Ramroop said despite the application of a seven per cent decrease to its expenditure, the ODPM was better prepared as the co-ordinator of all the responsible agencies and entities that are supposed to prepare for disasters. “We are better prepared as the co-ordinator in the last few years. He said the ODPM’s role was also complicated by the fact that the organisation must prepare the population and not just government agencies.
“We have continued our work to launch programmes aimed at preparing the population for all risks, mainly flooding and the rainy season... We are falling short on outreach programmes as we have not been able to reach out because of operational issues, and we have also had to cut back on a number of programmes.
He said despite cutbacks, the ODPM’s procurement of key items and the readiness of command centres and emergency operations had not been negatively affected.
“We have not been hindered or restricted in that manner because the Government has made sure that we got the resources. We had the seven per cent reduction like everyone else. We spent more time looking at the priorities.”
He said the ODPM had stepped up its work with police, military and fire service to build the capacity of agencies to respond. With the start of the Atlantic hurricane season on Wednesday, Ramroop said citizens need to be prepared.
‘LOOK OUT FOR MORE STORMS’
Climatologist at the T&T Met Office, Kenneth Kerr, in an interview on Wednesday, said in terms of tropical storms and activity in the North Atlantic Basin, in which the Caribbean is located, tropical storm activity could be higher than average. He noted, however, that this did not speak to whether a country would be hit by a hurricane.
“We are only speaking about activity. We cannot speak to whether a country or island will be hit or not. They cannot tell unless the storm is hours away.
“We have indicated that in the area of interest to T&T, all climate indicators are pointing in the direction for more tropical storm activity in the region,” Kerr said.
He said there was a 55 per cent chance for above average tropical storm activity.
“That does not mean or say anything about whether T&T will be affected by a tropical storm or not. What it says is that tropical storm activity is in that location.”
Kerr said there was a possibility that the region could have four to seven tropical storms, compared to an average of three storms in the past. “What we want to say is that regardless of whether the season will be above, below or near, T&T must always prepare for the hurricane season.
“It takes only one storm or hurricane to affect the country and set its development backward. Whether there is an active season or not, it only takes one.”