SporTT plays its part in relief efforts

THE Sport Company of TT (SporTT) is playing their part in helping flood victims, as the Woodbrook Youth Facility is being used as a shelter for affected people.

Persistent rain over the past few days has caused flooding in a number of places. Some of the places that have been greatly affected are St Helena, La Horquetta, Moruga, Princes Town, Caroni, Sangre Grande and Maraval.

Chairman of SporTT Douglas Camacho said the sporting facilities have not been affected by structural damage so far. He said, “The flooding is not a problem for those main facilities.”

Most of the top facilities in the country are under the purview of SporTT including Hasely Crawford Stadium, Larry Gomes Stadium, Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Ato Boldon Stadium, Jean Pierre Complex and Woodbrook Youth Facility. New facilities such as the National Racquet Centre, National Cycling Velodrome and the National Aquatic Centre are also under SporTT.

This is the second time in the last two months that sporting facilities have been tested by a natural disaster. On August 21, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake rocked TT with buildings being affected by structural damage. Some sporting facilities were closed for two days, but were reopened after structural engineers said the facilities were safe.

Camacho said after discussion with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (OPDM) and the Government, the Woodbrook Youth Facility was decided to be used to help flood victims.

“We are actually using Woodbrook Youth Centre (Facility), which is one of the major and most used one under our control. It is being used at the moment as a formal shelter. It is one of the formal shelters being used by the ODPM to help alleviate those who are having flooding problems,” Camacho said. Camacho said the country needs to come together in a situation like this. “We know this has to be a national effort and we are glad that we were able to help in some small way with alleviating some people’s grief,” he said.