00:00The ODPM has received a second batch of disaster preparation equipment from the Republic of China
00:06and is expecting a third sometime in the future. Among the items received were three solar-powered
00:13tents with air conditioning, solar-powered lights, portable lamps, generators and outdoor toilets.
00:20Head of the ODPM, Major General Rodney Smart thanked China for its kind donation as he notes,
00:26oftentimes those who are called to respond to disasters find themselves lacking the tools to
00:32do so. This is particularly important given the fact that disaster management agencies
00:43are focused on trying to relieve the suffering of victims of disasters,
00:49often in a chaotic and confused resource-starved environment. Recognizing this
00:59and visualizing that at times the very responders who would be required to provide assistance
01:08may themselves be operating from a severely damaged structure, we felt it was necessary
01:17to invest this time in the capability to allow them to operate from a deployable field structure.
01:28In his address, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hines notes that Trinidad and Tobago
01:33has a robust disaster preparedness and response structure as he listed some of the initiatives
01:40of state agencies.
02:10We have been making incremental developmental steps in terms of building our resilience.
02:19We introduced a PANS system to communicate with masses or the mass of people
02:26all efficiently at one time. We have been putting in early warning systems in our rivers and otherwise.
02:35The first batch of equipment is already in use by our emergency response agencies.
02:41Minister Hines notes these donations not only help strengthen TNT's resilience,
02:47but also augment our ability to provide aid to others, as is being done for our
02:53counterparts of the islands affected by Hurricane Barrel.
02:57Last Saturday, I as minister, carrying out my duty as such, authorized the deployment of two
03:08other members of the ODPM to Grenada. Teams from the Water and Sewerage Authority, or WASA,
03:16are currently on the islands providing assistance in the restoration of their
03:22water distribution network.
