Repent and pray!

This is the advice from Prime Minister Patrick Manning who yesterday associated himself with the “sentiments” of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) which has called on the nation to show remorse for sins and to pray for guidance. The IRO made its appeal in the face of the catastrophic events  which hit south-east Asia, leaving 165,000 dead so far. He was speaking at a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall. “It is reported that so violent was this event that the earth may have wobbled in its orbit,” Manning stated, adding, “This issue has been placed in some quarters in a spiritual context.”

Manning announced that Government agreed to give US$2 million (TT$12 million) to the UN Relief effort for south-east Asia. He said Cabinet also decided to establish a Revolving Disaster Relief fund of $20 million to ensure that funding is “readily available” whenever a national disaster strikes in Trinidad and Tobago. This fund would be replenished as money is used, he assured. He said the Minister of Finance would bring appropriate guidelines for the use of the fund to the Cabinet for consideration.

Manning said a lot of experts felt that if an early warning signal was in place in south-east Asia there would have been less severe effects of the tsunami. He said Trinidad and Tobago had no proper early warning arrangements. “It may well be that in the context of the scenarios we have outlined that we may not have much time for warnings at all.” He said, however, Government had asked the Ministry of National Security to meet with the relevant agencies and put in place an early warning system.