TT not ready for emergencies

The Meteorological Office and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had put Trinidad and Tobago on a tropical storm warning, since Tropical Storm Emily was taking a path which might have severely affected Trinidad and Tobago. It was, of course, absolutely correct to take precautions by sending people home early. But where the Government fell inexcusably short was in not anticipating the obvious problems that would arise.

First was the matter of traffic. As people rushed out of Port-of-Spain, vehicles inevitably gridlocked on the Beetham highway, Wrightson Road, the Queen’s Park Savannah, the Western Main Road and every other artery leading out of the capital city. In Chaguanas and environs, a similar traffic pile-up occurred, with Mayor Suruj Rambachan complaining of the inadequate response of the police to control the flow of traffic. And the city of San Fernando and the bypass up to the Gulf City mall were also congested.

But all this should have been expected and, long before the Prime Minister’s Office issued its advisory, traffic cops should have been assigned to deal with the expected jam. Instead, we had Works Minister Colm Imbert, in an attempt to facilitate the traffic flow, belated issuing an order hours afterward to open the Priority Bus route to private vehicles

Part of the problem here was that the advisory gave no estimated time when Trinidad might have begun to feel the effects of Tropical Storm Emily. As it turned out, the heavy rains didn’t start to fall until about 4 pm so the mad rush was really unnecessary. It might be argued that it was better to be safe than sorry, but the point is that what transpired was not safe at all.

Even if the storm’s tail-end had lashed us earlier, the straits would have been much more dire for those persons stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic or stranded on empty taxi stands. If an estimated time had been given by the MET office, even on a best-guess basis, people might have left work at different times, hence easing the traffic situation. Measures should also have been put in place to ensure that commuters were not left stranded by the lack of public transport, although the PTSC did the best it could.

But citizens themselves must accept some responsibility for the chaos on Wednesday. Many of the traffic problems were caused simply by selfish driving, with people refusing to stay in their lanes, going the wrong way up one-way streets, and driving dangerously. Nor did our privileged class reveal any better behaviour, with SUVs reportedly driving right across the Queen’s Park Savannah to bypass the traffic.

But the jam wasn’t confined to the nation’s roads. The hurricane season began weeks ago. Yet the gas stations and groceries on Wednesday filled to overflowing as people rushed to get basic supplies. Had they exercised just a little forethought, this extra burden would not have been necessary. Is it any wonder that such a lack of planning extends all the way up to the government?

At any rate, Wednesday’s fiasco confirms what most persons already know — this country is not prepared for a major emergency in any form or fashion. But we know that the government has at least $850 million to spend over the next three years. Perhaps that money should go into infrastructure and education to deal with natural disasters.