Deyalsingh to hand in quake recommendation

The issue was first disclosed to the public by Prime Minister (PM), Dr Keith Rowley, on May 9 during the formal opening of Government Campus Plaza, lower Richmond Street, PoS.

As Newsday previously reported, the PM said there are serious engineering difficulties there and should a sizeable earthquake hit, there could be structural failure. “We are not embarking on building a new hospital, but we are retrofitting to deal with that real threat in our main hospital,” Rowley stated on May 9.

Reporters sought an update on the matter on May 14, during Deyalsingh’s visit to PoSGH. “What the PM raised was the fact that if you have a magnitude 6.0 earthquake, many building will fall in the capital city, in Trinidad and Tobago (TT) but the PM is particularly concerned; as I am, not with the entire hospital but with one part of the hospital called Central Block, where most of the beds are.” Deyalsingh added that, “On becoming Minister of Health, I was alerted to that fact and we looked at about three reports that recommended that work be done on Central Block. I commissioned my own report and I will tell you that in about two to three weeks; and the PM is quite right to have raised this issue, we are going to Cabinet with a position on what we do with CB.”