DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

[00:00:01] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5. [00:00:08] Speaker B: Let's start our interview this morning, guys. We are chatting with Lieutenant Commander Kirk. Jean Bautiste, Training Education Officer at the ODPM Office of Disaster Preparedness Management. Good morning to you, Lieutenant. [00:00:24] Speaker A: Good morning. You hearing me clearly? [00:00:26] Speaker B: Loud and clear, sir. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. [00:00:28] Speaker A: Wonderful. Good morning. [00:00:32] Speaker B: We are at the brink. [00:00:33] Speaker A: So talk to me. [00:00:33] Speaker B: We are at the brink. According to an article here on our Guardian for the people this morning, Let me just tell you, it's page four, on the verge of a 2025 wet season. On page five, adverse weather brings floods, landslips in parts of Trinidad and as farmers brace for more. Not only that, Also in Rio Claro, 2, 2 to 3ft of water, flood waters in Rio Claro. Persons complaining this morning that they lost stuff. Now we spoke with Minister Khadija Amin last week who said that her office is ready for operations. Let's get a little insight as to the preparedness on your end, what persons can expect coming forward in terms of relief assistance and efforts. [00:01:14] Speaker A: Right. So I guess morning again, everyone. So the what we would have seen the last two days would have been what we term a level one issue. So all your relief and all your assistance comes from the regional cooperation, the disaster management units in the 14 regional corporations throughout Trinidad and Tobago. And you would have seen that being carried out from pictures, et cetera, once the water subsided, you'd have seen them getting in. What we do at this level is monitoring if the regional corporations require assistance with supplies, additional supplies and extra supplies. The ODPM warehouses was always stand by and ready waiting to give them those supplies. Right. Some people may have a blown off roof and they may need extra topplings. Some people, they may need some extra chainsaws, right? To cut some fallen trees, something fall on a house, Right. So we are there to at this stage, once it reaches to a level two and beyond, which is a national disaster, the ODPM kicks in. And what we do is we coordinate now with not just the regional corporation, we'll coordinate with the Trin Tobago Defense Force, Tobago Police Service, Fire Service, Red Cross and all those other agencies that ably come together and assist the ODPM volunteers will be activated at that point in time to get, to get out there. And you would have seen some something like that during the oil spill in Tobago last year. Once it was reached a level 2, we activated. I myself went across on the 19th of February with a team of volunteers and on the 3rd of March with another team of volunteers. I was for Operation Gulfstream. And that's how you see the ODPM get activated. So at this level, the regional cooperation really gets in there and, and really does what they have to do now. [00:03:23] Speaker B: I mean, prior to that we time and time again over the last. Since, since I know myself. [00:03:30] Speaker A: Since you know yourself, yeah. [00:03:32] Speaker B: We have been, we have been experiencing inclement weather in Trinidad and Tobago. We have, we have two seasons, dry season, wet season. We are familiar with the floodings in places such as Woodland. There are certain areas we are accustomed with it, right. One of the things I attribute to the flooding, and you can tell me if I'm wrong, the fact that we were never prepared for the type of development that Trinidad and Tobago continuously see over the years. Let's take areas like Sangre Grande, St. Augustine and other areas. These areas are starting to be built up. Sangre Grande is a hub onto its own. They had to put our own highway and areas down in the Southland. So with that type of infrastructure, is it that we don't have adequate drainage when these rains come that cause the flooding? [00:04:16] Speaker A: Well, there's so many things that causes flooding, but urbanization clearly is one of them. What urbanization does is replace the permeable soil, right? And you start to concretize, you start to put pitch here, you start to remove the ability for the soil to absorb water, which helps a lot, all right? And this results in an increased surface runoff which leads to flash flooding. Now, part of the urbanization problem is that we greedy and we like to push back and take a little more land. But we pushing back on the river space, we encroaching on the river, we backfilling, right? And once you hamper the flow of a river, right, you're asking for trouble. Now there are places referred to in Trinidad and Tobago called floodplains, which are areas that are low lying, that would by nature would want to fill up with water. You called one just now, Woodland, Barrackpor, Karani, right. And look at where they're situated, right. Karanee is between the Central Range and the Northern Range, right? And it's low lying, right? Woodland. And all those places are low lying, right? So if the drainage is compromised, right. If no, there are several types of flooding. You have riverine flooding, you have coastal flooding, they have flash flooding, you have urban flooding, you have storm surge, you have groundwater flooding, right? So things like deforestation or land use, right. Added with intense rainfall and prolonged rainfall, right. Can cause an area to flood. Okay? So I always ask the question, you said it just now. Since you're small, you know, places flooding, why people still building flat houses in such areas? [00:06:19] Speaker B: But then even if we are prone to under, let's take woodland for example on parts of Barrackpore which are low lying areas. Let's take those two areas for example. I traverse through woodland and I'm looking at water six feet in some instances. You're seeing the watermark. Six feet. [00:06:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Yes. [00:06:39] Speaker B: And I am thinking to myself and you are correct in flat and these are flat houses. But what is most alarming to me is year after year these residents, these inhabitants continue to experience these natural disasters. The country, the governments that come and go, past and present, they are aware of these areas. Is it that there's not much can be done or have been done over the years to provide adequate drainage for those areas or is it that because of the fact that there are low lying areas they are susceptible to this and not much can be done and those areas should be inhabitable person should not be allowed to live in those areas because even if you build house and stilts you're still marooned. [00:07:23] Speaker A: You'll be marooned. You would, you probably wouldn't lose all your appliances, furniture, what, any appliances, but you'll be marooned. Now I could tell you that the regional corporations do their part. They clear, they, they, they make way right now you can't be all things to all men at all times. We have to take responsibility as well, right? And people have been doing some very, very unscrupulous things. People are still dumping in rivers, right? I talking about fridge, stove, car parts, car engine, tires and regular wholesale garbage that garbage trucks pass and pick up, right? So people still don't. So I clear the road, I clear the river. Right now they're stalking on behalf of the regional clear the river. You still come doing your stuff. We are still doing unscrupulous things. There's quarrying still going on right now what adds to a river being low as well is when water with mud and silt run off from the hills, right? It settles in the river and it makes the river a little shallower. Well in some cases a lot shallower than it originally was. Even though, even though we pass and we dredge, right? So rainfall, rainfall, rainfall. But when persistent rain falls and these rivers fill, they'll burst their banks. Right now we have some cases and you could, you, you, you, you could ask the regional corporation where, where somebody decide that they, they're pushing back on the river because they want to Block somebody from, from using something. You living in the area and you're setting up yourself. There are so many things that we could do, right, that would help. This morning I come in through Port of Spain and by the, by the roundabout there, by the Cipriani statue, right? The regional corporation already cleared. There's an underwater drainage, right. Port of Spain. And if you see the huge pile of styrotex and plastic bottles and boxes that they would have cleared out of the drainage for the truck to come and pick up, right? We still doing it. That's, that's uber. That's urban issues, right. In the rural areas, these things are still going on. We all have to play a part in helping curb the issue, right? Because even if you're living there, we must be able to get some drainage done, some proper job. If now there are other mitigating factors, right? We. Where the waters run off in the rivers, where the rivers flow to the sea, not so, right? So if there's high tide out at sea and the rain is falling persistently and it running down to the river, the water not going anywhere until that tide dropping that water. Those are facts. That water not going anywhere until tide change. And with the change of tide, with the dropping of tide, there's also a suction effect, right? So it helps pull the water out, right? So imagine you're trying to pull the water out, right? But the car, somebody flinging the river, the, the stove, the mattress, the helping block, the ways, helping block. So it's like we double work in the corporation, triple work in the corporation, right? There's only so much resources they have. So during the dry season you probably would have seen the excavators, you know. [00:10:54] Speaker B: Yes. [00:10:54] Speaker A: Clearing, digging, right. You would have seen it. I live south, so when I go down the road, you've seen them excavating, clearing, especially by the Karini area. [00:11:04] Speaker B: Oh yeah, I saw that in abundance. Yeah. [00:11:08] Speaker A: It's a combined, is a combination of things. We can't just sit down and wait for the regional corporation to do it or for the government to do it or for somebody else to do it. We have a finger pointing behavior and we need to come out of that, right. Every year the Mississippi river floods, you know that you see it on the news, right? What do the people living along the Mississippi do? They have sandbags waiting once they get that declaration and you could get a declaration of a storm. Two days, 24 to 72 hours, they pull out the sandbox, they sandbag the doors, they sandbag because they know the usual height the river gets to. And if the river overflows, what happens? And they are there ready and prepared. What, what we do, Right. They send you home 12 o' clock because God, storm coming, hurricane coming. Go and get ready. Pass by every bar davi and see what going on. Then the rain started to fall and they're running down the poor regional corporation to no get sandbags. They're clogging up the grocery because they now want to get perishable, non perishable items and water and the works. Right. They're killing the gas station because they're filling up the car with I don't know what. You're filling up your car with gas when we're expecting a hurricane. For where you're going after the hurricane, you see where you're going. [00:12:34] Speaker B: We have a weird way of operating. And I want to take a quick commercial break here very quickly and come back as we continue talking with the Lieutenant this morning of the Office of the Prepared Disaster Preparedness and Management. Right, so we'll be back. Stick and stay. If you're just joining us, we are chatting with Lieutenant Commander Kirk. Jean Baptiste. Disaster preparedness is our topic this morning. He's a training officer and education officer at the odpm. Let's take a listen to what some of you had to say this morning. [00:13:04] Speaker C: Good morning. Derbassa Trace. The water that floods Woodland is not the water that floods fall in and around Woodland. Water from Princestown goes to Barakpur, goes to Debay and then goes to Woodland and breaks the banks of the river that come through Woodland. It's not Woodland water. I take the position that if you're bringing water from all over the place and passing through my community, make sure the bank don't break. Right. And not that that's from the east. There's water coming from the south and the west as well. On the northern side of the Ropuch Lagoon, you would find the Gulf of Barrier. But from the other three directions, water is coming from far and wide and breaking the banks of the river. If you are passing a river through Woodland, which is not far from where I live in the Robusta Trace, I'm just outside Europut Lagoon. If you are passing water through my land here, make sure you don't break the banks. Secure your banks. Thank you. [00:14:10] Speaker A: Cook. You're hearing good morning guests in the studio there. [00:14:16] Speaker D: All that he is saying is true. People do dump rubbish in back roads, in abandoned cane fields and rivers and drains. Yes, I traverse the country and I see it. What are we doing to eradicate such a problem. And two, does the ODPM come across through the corporation when water courses are passing through people property? What is in plan that we can get people to cooperate to get these watercourses clean? Because this is part and parcel of the problem when people don't want to give the corporation permission to clean a watercourse that is in their property. I would like to get answers because that is affecting me in my area of Debbie and I would like to know what the corporation can do with the relevant authorities to get people to actually work to get their portion of their water course clean that can allow the free flow of water lifting off here. Thank you very much. [00:15:24] Speaker B: All right, that. Now that's my final question to you this morning. Is that a challenge that you all face at the Office of Disaster Preparedness Management where persons are not allowing you all to come through their properties in order to clear waterways? [00:15:36] Speaker A: Well, is a, It's a situation that the regional corporation would face directly and that is a real issue. Right. Why would you. Let me think about it, Davy. Why would you not want me to clear the river so that the water could flow through the river as opposed through your land? Why? Right. Now, the first person who spoke about water coming from several different places, that is a reality of river flow. They are tributaries and they flow to a main river. I believe the river that would. Would drain off from Woodland is the Gordino River. That goes straight into the Gulf of Paria. It, it comes out by the, by the Mosquito Creek there by the cremation site. Right. And that is a reality. So when that water coming from Princess Tongue, from Debbie, from wherever it come in with all the garbage, all the rocks, all the, the fallen trees, all the everything and reaching probably in woodland. Right. Because Woodland is, is now on the flock before we, before we head out to sea and you're causing that clog and it will, it will it. Eventually if rain is prolonged, it will break the banks. Right. Persons who live close to hilly areas, what comes down from the hill comes into the river. Right. And that comes with rocks, garbage, everything and it causes a clog and keep back. Now community pressure might be one of the things to do to, to help people. Hey, let it. Let the people clean the land now. Let the people come and clean the drain. [00:17:16] Speaker B: I, I get it. I understand. [00:17:18] Speaker A: That's the. We know peer pressure is a real thing for young people. Community pressure need to be a real thing for persons in the community who not cooperating. [00:17:28] Speaker B: All right? [00:17:29] Speaker A: Right. Probably due to probably look up probably the regional co op have to look at charging you for not moving. [00:17:36] Speaker B: Well, that's it. But due to unforeseen circumstances, I'll have to pull our interview at this time. And thank you so much for sharing some. There are some other things we can talk about. If you're not too busy in the 8 o' clock hour, I can revisit a conversation with you back on the zoom. I would shoot you a message and we can work from there. But thank you again for sharing some insight very briefly with us. I am out of time at this time, but same to you buddy. Take care. [00:17:59] Speaker A: The best insight, Instant feedback, Accountability the all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5.