‘We need all hands on deck’

Port of Spain Mayor, Joel Martinez.
Port of Spain Mayor, Joel Martinez.

MAYOR of Port of Spain Joel Martinez, said reducing the flooding problems in Port of Spain and the country must be a collaborative effort, when he spoke last Friday at a seminar on water in Port of Spain at City Hall.

In light of the flooding that devastated large parts of the country less than three weeks ago, flooding was the major topic of discussion on the opening day of the two-day seminar.

Those who addressed the issue included Martinez, ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Jules Bijl, CEO of WASA Ellis Burris, relief officer at the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) Capt Neville Wint and Kishan Kumarsingh, head of multilateral environmental agreements at the Ministry of Planning and Development.

The topics discussed were: why flooding takes place in Port of Spain, how to prevent flooding, reducing the impact of flooding, how flooding affects business, and climate change.

Martinez said everyone must work together.

“I believe that we are on the right path to finding solutions. An opportunity is now on our doorstep where we could have open dialogue with stakeholders, water experts, engineers, water researchers, amongst others. I am sure the findings will prove immensely helpful in developing water plans and policies that will bring positive outcomes.

“We cannot survive on our own, but with the collective technical experts I believe that we can.”

Martinez said TT must become more aware of natural disasters, especially with a 6.9 magnitude earthquake and the widespread flooding two months apart.

“Who would have expected to have had an earthquake of the magnitude of 6.9 within recent weeks of our largest disaster in flooding? It means that changes are taking place in this world, and we have to stop holding our arms and wondering what we are going to do about it when it arises.

We need to take first-hand approaches to dealing with it. Let’s have an all-hands-on-deck approach.”

Wint said flooding was inevitable, but the damage and losses can be reduced through flood management.

“There are going to be floods again. It might not be in Port of Spain, it might be somewhere (else), but we have to live with it and we have to reduce the impact,” he said.

Flood management includes waste management, educating people about flooding, widening underground drains and water harvesting.

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"‘We need all hands on deck’"

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