Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new talk radio Freedom 106.5.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Continue our discussions about the earthquake and some of the do's and don'ts and everything else. And we have two gentlemen, two gentlemen with us here this morning, and they are here to give us more information.
Representing the ODPM training and education specialist, Lieutenant Kirk. Jean Baptiste. Good morning to you and welcome to our program.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Good morning, sir. How are you? You hearing me?
[00:00:34] Speaker B: I'm fine. We're hearing you. Lord, I haven't spoken to you in such a long time. It's nice to have you with us here this morning.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: I say you went abroad or something and I don't know.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Well, I thought you get promoted and can't talk to people again, but I guess you're here. I guess you're here with us here this morning, so that's not the case. And we also have with. Well, sorry.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: Good thing, you know, Kalkuk is very good.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: I know, I know, I know. It's been many, many, many years.
And also with us here this morning, representing the ODPM's preparedness and response operations unit, that's Navin Passad, regional coordinator. Good morning to you.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: Hi.
[00:01:11] Speaker C: Good morning. Thanks very much for having me on.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: It's nice to have both of you here this morning, as I'm sure you were listening to the brief conversation with Colleen following what transpired on Saturday. You have a population. I don't want to say they antsy because some people dismiss it and say, man, we get real quick, once every four or five years, nothing to worry about. And then there are others who are saying, well, you know, this thing was real strong. Do we need to worry? So let's. We spoke to Colleen a bit about that, that the role of both of you being here is to give people the guidance that they need to treat with things like these when they do happen.
So I'm not too sure which. Which one of you wants to take it from. From the get go, the ODP.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: I'll tell you all about earthquakes, what causes it, etcetera. I want to thank Mister Hussein for possibly answering everything, but I'll let Navin and then we'll talk a little bit about what to do and why we are doing it. So, Navin, you could go ahead.
[00:02:20] Speaker C: Sure. Thanks very much, commander. So, all right, so essentially what we need to know is that, of course, and Colleen would have spoken to this earlier, is that earthquakes, sudden onset event. So the possibility of predicting this is manual, you know, but the seismologists, based on their trends, they could probably, they could give a probability of when another major event could occur. Right. Not a, not a certainty. Right. But the key thing to note is that we need to be prepared as a nation, we need to know what to do, what not to do. Right. And one of the main things is during an earthquake is to always stay calm. Don't panic, trying not to run or storm out the building that you're in. If you're outside, stay away from utility poles, anything that could fall or probably could fall or collapse during the shaking. So essentially, if you're inside, you could probably stand on a strong doorway, make sure that it's a reinforced door frame to begin with. Or if there's a strong city table nearby, you could go under the table. If there aren't any tables or desks or anything that you could go under, you could do the standard procedure, which is the drop cover, who will make sure, protect your head, protect the back of your neck from objects that could fall. Stay away from windows, mirrors, glass doors, anything that could fall off from its position.
If you're in a vehicle, definitely don't stop on the bridge. And as I mentioned outside, stay away from glass buildings, electricity poles and bridges. Always look out for falling plaster, bricks, lighting fixtures and other objects as well.
One thing to note is that after the shaking stops, you should shut off. Utilities ensure that that gas line is shut off if you need to turn the main breaker off. And probably utilize flashlights or those rechargeable lanterns, you know, because one of the major effects of an earthquake could be fires being triggered afterwards.
If persons could probably google the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan, you would see that the earthquake itself caused significant damage. But what occurred after was a major catastrophic fire that engulfed most of the city and caused a lot of deaths. That's because persons, the time of the earthquake, it occurred during the morning when many of the residents were preparing breakfast. And when the homes collapsed, it triggered fires, which spread rapidly. So that's, that's just something to keep in mind.
Another thing is landslides and rock falls. If persons know that they live in areas that are prone to those type of things, always be vigilant, be prepared for aftershocks. Those things tend to occur.
Some of those we can feel, some of those we may not feel, you know, but basically, um, aftershocks is something that, that we should always be mindful of, be prepared for. Have that family emergency plan in place. Right. Um, if it's possible to secure those heavy items around the home, like, like shelves, gas tanks, water tanks. If, if there's a way to fasten it to the wall to help secure it from falling during an earthquake. That'll actually help with safety as well, you know. So those are some of the.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: There'S a level of reality that hits you when an earthquake happens. Let me give, I should be telling people this, Bagatello, this is exactly what happened to me when the earthquake struck. Right. I know every single thing that you just spoke about, and I am positive that there are many people who know as well, very well read and researched and everything, everything you just said they are fully aware of.
I was sitting with my baby, she's a year and six months, because she don't go to sleep early. And I just happened to be with her sitting in the living room. At that point in time when the earthquake struck, I did not know what to do because all sense of reason left me. So I grabbed the child because she see everything in the house start to shake and she got scared.
So I was, no, I held her tightly, trying to calm her down and then trying to figure out what do I do? Do I get up? Do I move? Do I stay where I am? And all those things. And before I knew what was happening, the earthquake was over.
So that's why I say that there's a sense of reality, because it's all well and good to have all these guidelines about stand up here and go and lie down there and do go and this and that and the next and the other.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: But, but realistically satish.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: Right. What, what you would have experienced is the first 3 seconds it was, you would be like, what's happening? Is this really happening? You're not sure. Am I dizzy? What's going on? And by the time you realize that you're fully internal, quick now, you could tell people, don't run.
You could preach it to them, you could practice it with them.
If somebody's in the lobby of a building, their first instinct is to run out the door. Now, we have to be mindful that if you're in a building, one of those big buildings, if you run out, you're not going to be able to see if a glass pan falling, a piece of concrete falling, um, to come on you and you, you can't run in a straight line when the ground is shaking. So the best thing to do, really is to take cover. If you could remember one thing is to try and take cover. If you're not doorway, right. You stay still in that doorway. Don't, don't go in the elevator. Get on that table. Don't be, uh, you know, some people feeling shy or afraid or how embarrassing it will look. Get under the table.
Running doesn't help, right. Um, stay away from glass windows, right. Some people crouch down by the wall, but they're right under glass pane, glass shutters. And when glass shutters, it is almost like an explosion. It flies and it cuts badly. So we. We have to be kind of mindful. Um, it took you a little while. Nothing bad happened, right? But we still have to try and be a little mindful. Now, Trinidad, bigger, is no stranger to earthquakes, all right? And we've had, if we look at earthquakes, 7.1 over since 1766, there was an earthquake that destroyed our then capital, San Jose, in 1776, 7.9 on the Richter scale, right. In 1888, there was a 7.5 that occurred from Trinidad to St. Vincent. There was. In 1968, there was a 7.0. Right. That caused significant damage in Venezuela, with some damages in port of Spain. In 2007, we had a 7.3 on the Richter scale. Fell throughout the entire eastern Caribbean, including char and Tobago. In 2018, we had a 6.9 that was felt in Trinidad and recorded damages to buildings and property. So we know we're not a stranger to earthquake. It just doesn't happen as often as we think, but it will happen. So what we want people to do is to try and be as resilient as possible. So, earthquake strike without warning. Now, Navin would have given some hints about things on shelves, gas stamps, etcetera. You can't wait for an earthquake to hit to secure them, right? So if you have things on shelving, then there's ways to secure things on a shelving, right? Whether you. Whether you put up a little extra bar that if it shakes, it stays there and doesn't come down, you have to make sure this shelving itself is secure. Right. Um, you have to know your area.
If you're in a building, if you live next to a hillside, there's a possibility of. Of rocks coming down, land slips taking place, right? Um, if you live close to the seafront, right. You're talking possible high wave action after an earthquake or tsunami, right. That could happen. So you have to be kind of aware, based on where you live and what your environment is. And in that way, you could become a little more resilient to when these things happen. And don't be the only person with the info. You have to train. You have to train. You have to train it around you see, hearing it is one thing, as atish, but practicing it is where muscle memory will come in, and your children would be able to know what to do, your wife, everybody will be able to know what to do, where to go, how to do it. So it is about being prepared, because we can't warn you and tell you, unlike a hurricane, we can't tell you. Come in tomorrow morning.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I understand. We need to take a couple messages, but when we get back, we'll speak about some of the official plans that are in place.
We hope that we never have to use them, but in the event people need to know, to know about some of these plans that the ODPM would have, some of the things that, on a national scale, we would do as a nation if we were to be hit by an earthquake severe enough to cause some damage. For those of you who may have joined the conversation midway, we're speaking with a training and education specialist at the ODPM. That's Lieutenant Cook, Jean Baptiste, and regional coordinator, preparedness and response operations unit at the ODPM, Navin Prasad. A couple quick messages. We'll be right back. Stay with us. Welcome back.
Speaking with us this morning, training and education specialist, ODPM, Lieutenant Kirk, Jean Baptiste and regional coordinator, preparedness and Response Operations unit, ODPM Navin Posad.
If you'd like to join the conversation, feel free to call us on 625-2257 send your messages to 3061-0655 we've seen in horror some of what has happened in other parts of the world when you have earthquakes.
Some. Some countries are hit by such severe earthquakes that entire buildings crumble and hundreds, sometimes thousands of people are trapped for a very, very long time. Some die. And all those. Let's take this call first before we get into that discussion. Hello. Good morning.
[00:13:17] Speaker D: Good morning, sir. This is good morning to your guest.
I have a question.
Now, we all know that any shake from an earthquake will everything more than 6.5 going down. Seven, eight, will cause disruption for any building, whether or not it is built or not. But I'm asking whether, when plans for a building are being submitted to Toronto country, whether there is any section to check. Now, do I have other aspects of the building to check for strength and whatnot, but for earthquake resistance, does that, do they have a section here to inspect these plans to see if there's an aspect of it as much as possible to absorb shocks? Because if you're watching Japan next to the day miner, they build big buildings to dance. So just think, I put an idea. I want to know if it does have this or if the. If it is would be a good thing to implement it. I thank you very much.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: I think it was looking for is building codes with specifications for earthquakes or anything like that. Take another call before we get your responses. Hello. Good morning.
[00:14:35] Speaker E: Monet fetish and monetary gentleman you have in studio. I wonder, since he had the history in relation to earthquakes in the area, do you have any history in relation to tsunamis? And how should we look at the possibility of an earthquake activating the undersea volcano? We have called kickemgenu. What's the earliest warning signs in relation to preparation for that? Listen to your comments.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: Thank you for your call. Let's. Let's get your responses about building codes and the last caller about responses to tsunamis and so on.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: All right.
[00:15:09] Speaker C: Thanks very much for the question. So, with regards to the building codes, I was recently in Japan, and I was able to get a first hand view of how they actually construct their buildings and their walkovers and their roadways and so forth, with that level of flexibility, um, to withstand a particular level of shaking. Right. In terms of. Of the local context, I I really cannot say if. If. At the building inspector level, um, if they would incorporate earthquake resilience, um, in terms of. Of buildings, um, you know, but it's something that. That we should look into. I know back in 2018 that Utah could. I was actually at one of the disaster management units of the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government, and I was one of the teams that went out and had to conduct inspections or damage assessments on buildings. And we saw many things that didn't align to building codes, such as ensuring that the walls are tied in properly to the beams and all these different things. So the improper construction techniques will obviously add to any type of damage that could occur when. When the shaking of an earthquake takes place. Right. So it's essential to follow the building codes and guidelines to ensure that the home of the structures is properly. Is properly well built and reinforced as well.
Just to speak to that point.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Before we went to the call, I was saying that, you know, in other parts of the world, we've seen the devastation, the destruction that can occur with an earthquake of a severe magnitude here at home. We've had our brush with it. It has not resulted in the kind of things that we've seen abroad. But as a nation, how do we speak about the preparedness for such a possibility?
And I'm assuming this is where the ODPM would have a leading role in. Let's, God forbid, have to go through something like that. How prepared are we and what are the preparations in place.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Right?
[00:17:23] Speaker C: So this is where the public information has a key role to play as well. And ensuring that the public is well educated about earthquake preparedness is essential. And in partnership with the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government Disaster Management unity, the ODPM continues to have its public education drive ongoing in various locations. So one is actually having abiding by the building codes as one, but two is ensuring that your home, your family and, you know, the, as I spoke to earlier, the having the particular things in place, such as the securing the heavy objects if you're packing a shelf, make sure that the heavier objects are on the lower shelves. Having a family emergency plan, having emergency supplies in place, knowing where your shelters are located.
All these different things add to the education aspect. Knowing about what are the after effects of an earthquake, such as fires, exposed electrical infrastructure, fallen electrical infrastructure, and one of the callers mentioned tsunamis as well, which is something that we should also be mindful of because based on our geographic location, we are susceptible to tsunami impacts. We haven't had a major impact in recent times, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of a tsunami impacting us. So that is why we need to have that level of tsunami readiness and preparedness amongst all the stakeholders, including the communities that exist along the low lying coastal areas and near river mouths along rivers as well.
We have seen tsunamis having a tendency to flow upstream from the coastline and inundating floodplains as well. So that's some of the things that we need to be mindful of in terms of national level preparedness. The ODPm continues to work with the various stakeholders, ministries, agencies and divisions from all sectors at all levels. And we also collaborate with the private sector and non governmental organizations to ensure that that level of preparedness for disaster responses there and many persons would know about the National Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Multi sectoral committee, which was implemented for that very reason, to ensure that disaster risk management is actually streamlined across sectors at all levels.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: I think we have another call. Let's squeeze in this call before we have some kind of closing comments. Hello, good morning. Hello.
[00:20:06] Speaker F: Good morning Sartish. Good morning to your guest.
Quickly, almost simultaneously with the earthquake, I received a notification on my phone. I don't know if it came from the ODPM, but if it was, I'm very impressed regarding giving safety tips on earthquake, and it had a number of helpful tips on it.
Also, what does the ODPM constitute as damage? I'm seeing a statement being made that there was no damage during the earthquake how, how extensive, how extensively does the ODPM survey the country as a whole, the various buildings, and in terms of making a determination that there has been, in fact, no damage. I'll listen up here. Thank you.
[00:20:54] Speaker C: All right, thanks. Thanks very much, Paula. Okay, so in terms of the notification, right. The ODPM didn't release any official notice or notification to the public.
I know the UE Seismic Research center would have posted the earthquake information on their social media pages. Right. On their website as well. Right. However, if the situation warranted public information or alert, the ODPM would have issued it to what is known as the pans, the public alert notification system, something that was recently implemented. It's a mass notification system. So I would encourage persons who are listening to go on the ODPM web, go on to the ODPM website and register for paNs. Right. Pans would be able to channel that information to the public through SMS, voice, call, WhatsApp, email, landlines as well. Right. And it happens simultaneously to all those who are registered on the alert system.
So that just. Yeah, that is essential for having that alert going out to the public.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: Let's talk about what might be one of the. Because you almost out of time already. It's amazing how quickly this.
One of the most important things, well, it should be anyway, is the response time of the authorities to incidents like these.
And many times when we have these discussions, people place an onus where it shouldn't be. The ODPM is not the agency that comes to help you dig out any rubble and that kind of thing. The ODPM is the coordinating agency. And many times when we have floods in particular, there's a lot of blame heaped on the shoulders of the ODP, and when it's not necessarily where it should be. So do we have drills taking place or anything like that to map or response time, the response time of the authorities to incidents like these? And do we have an idea as to how long it would take? Let's just say from the earthquake that happened on Saturday, a building collapsed and there were people stuck inside and trapped under the rubble, what would have been acceptable as a response and what would have happened?
[00:23:20] Speaker C: Right. So in terms of exercising for these types of hazard impacts, earthquakes in particular, recently, the ODPM and other key stakeholders in disaster management, disaster response, emergency response as well, would have participated in a national level exercise. And the hazard impact that was being simulated was an earthquake. And we were able to activate the National Emergency Operation center. And as you mentioned, the ODPM is a coordinating agency. And the strength of the ODPM lies with its ability to coordinate resources for disaster response. And that's only one aspect of what the organization does. There are so many other things as it relates to the disaster management cycle. There's preparedness, mitigation, recovery, all these different things that comes into the realm of disaster management.
So we were able to actually play out particular scenarios that relates to a particular magnitude earthquake occurring. We had the first responders participating in the exercise as well, fire service, police service, and we also had the defense force playing an active role in supporting the first responders to help strengthen response as well to an earthquake.
[00:24:43] Speaker A: Right.
[00:24:43] Speaker C: So we were able to practice the coordination within the national emergency Operations center and potential scenarios that could occur during and following a major earthquake in Trinidad and Tobago.
[00:25:00] Speaker B: Gentlemen, this is where we're gonna have to leave it this morning. I mean, we are out of time with some messages take us up the door. But there's so much more that we need to discuss. I'm concerned about it for the obvious reason. I myself, somebody, I've been speaking about this for such a long period of time, I do so many stories on it and all kind of thing, had so many discussions. But when the crunch time hit, and I mean, I'm ashamed to say this, when the earthquake hit on Saturday, I was left in a position that is not the ideal one, and I'm positive that there are many others. So we need to have some more discussions about these if just to raise awareness and reemphasize to people that, hey, you know, in this serious business, go there. Always at Trini, something could happen somewhere and we need to be prepared. I want to thank both of you for being with us here this morning and sharing this vital information two days after something hit us that scared all of us. Thank you once again for being with us on the program this morning.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: Not a problem. Have a great day, my friend.
[00:25:56] Speaker B: Yes, and we shall speak again soon.
[00:25:57] Speaker C: Thanks as well. Have a good day.
[00:25:59] Speaker B: We shall, we shall. Thank you so much for being with us. That's gonna have to leave it here this morning.
Earthquake, I tell ya.
Can I do a whole movie? I might respond, so I would. Quick alone.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability the all new talk radio Freedom 106.5.
