In the wake of the devastating flooding which has inundated parts of the nation and left thousands stranded, the OECS Commission has expressed its readiness to share its disaster mitigation knowledge with the people and Government of the twin island state.
Speaking from the OECS Heads of Government meeting in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, OECS Director General Dr. Didacus Jules said the OECS expressed its sorrow and stood in strong solidarity with the Government and people of Trinidad and Tobago at this difficult time.
“These extraordinary torrential rains are yet another reminder of the impacts of climate change and the need for global leadership to keep moving beyond posturing to action,” said Dr. Jules. “We express our profound sadness for those impacted by the floods and understand many including the elderly, infirm and young children have been seeking shelter on rooftops until help has arrived.”
He said if left unchecked, “climate change will continue to have a disproportionate and devastating impact on the economies and people of the Caribbean.”
“The question, therefore, is not the challenge before us but our capacity as a region, as a people to meet it,” he stated. “The most valuable course of action we can now offer is to share specialized disaster resilient knowledge gained from within the OECS experience to complement local approaches and expertise in Trinidad and Tobago and beyond, to allay future weather events. Practical, successful coastal defence and flood mitigation measures such as drainage works, river bank stabilization programs to the strategic planting of certain species of trees to help prevent land erosion and slips are delivering results in Montserrat, Anguilla, Saint Lucia, BVI, Nevis and Dominica as examples.”
Dr. Jules added, “While no mitigation initiative will ever avert flooding of this scale it can help diminish the magnitude of the outcome, and if just one life is saved as a result, then it is worth it. While knowledge is power in the fight against climate change the OECS will also continue to back the global effort to mobilise $100 billion dollars by 2020 to galvanize local community disaster mitigating initiatives which combined can ensure Trinidad and Tobago and the wider region becomes more climate resilient.”
It would be useful if your meteorologists would look back at the satellite imagery for the period in question and explain what gave rise to Trinidad’s flooding. For days, a sizeable tropical wave was “parked” to the east of Trinidad and unable to venture north or further west due to high wind shear immediately west of Trinidad and winds blowing from west to east across the Caribbean Sea and over the Atlantic Ocean. A recipe for disaster – and even before this period of “climate change”!
That looks like a little drizzle
Nothing to be alarmed about
– Climate change deniers
“These extraordinary torrential rains are yet another reminder of the impacts of climate change–
But is there a man on Earth who can control and survive those kinds of natural disturbances on his own? I am saying no way! Control and survival can only come by the Authority of our Creator–God Almighty; turn to Him, O you people!
That situation in Trinidad brings to my mind, the days of the “Great Tribulation” which will be so severe, that it says at Revelation 6: 12-17 about the “Cosmic Disturbance”; read verses 15-17 below
The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” That is the “Great Question”!
Global change is not the only issue here,these islands are corrupt and murders are soaring,people need to live in peace and harmony.