Only recently, the world watched in horror as Hurricane Harvey made landfall in the southwest region of the United States. Then, as the full devastating effects became apparent, rescue operations kicked in. While not without its controversies owing to the sheer scale of the crisis, response eff orts in the face of Hurricane Harvey could off er us a few lessons.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. Incidentally, the US was not the only country severely affected within recent times; sadly, the same is true for Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa, and countries in Southeast Asia.

Changing weather patterns, coastal erosion, the destruction of reefs and natural habitats, and other environmental impacts are our realities. These are likely to become more pronounced as the years wear on, with dire consequences for island state populations such as ours.

Climate disruption is likely to cause more intense disasters and even new types. Consider heat waves and drought, salt water intrusion into fresh groundwater, increased rainfall and more powerful weather patterns… the list seems endless and very daunting, to say the least.

To make bad matters worse, indiscriminate human behaviour can worsen the negative effects of a disaster such as heavy flooding. Time and again, we have been urged to practice responsible waste disposal routines. Yet we ignore these calls and continue to use watercourses, pavements and abandoned lots as garbage dumps.

Our general apathy and dismissive attitude towards impending crises has now become quite expected. But local and global realities demand that we treat with every threat as a serious possibility.

Evacuation plans for our capital do in fact exist, but are citizens sufficiently educated about what to do in case of an emergency? Are plans in place for our other main city centres? Have we sought to close the gap on our emergency response times? Are our first responders fully resourced and well equipped? Are we consistently building resilience and capacity within our communities? In April last year, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago joined one 174 other nations in signing the Paris Climate Change Agreement at the Headquarters of the United Nations. This signalled our country’s commitment to adopt ng measures to address climate change through sustainable and targeted domestic policies. It would be good to know what further steps have been taken, to draw us closer to our objectives for the benefit of present and future generations.

While we seem to be moving rather sluggishly, yet another Hurricane – Irma – appears to be rapidly intensifying, in the northern Caribbean at the ti me of writi ng. Our only hope is that that our region and further afifi eld will be spared any serious damage.

Such is the strength of a category 5 hurricane that even the most well-engineered building is no match for its winds. Anything over 155 miles per hour will have a direct impact on structures. Government buildings on the island of Saint Martin – the sturdiest built there – were yesterday reported to have been destroyed.

The magnitude of the effects of Irma is such that we must now question the very system used to classify hurricanes.

Under the Saffir–Simpson scale, a category 4 hurricane is one between 130 miles per hour and 156 miles per hour. Category 5 is anything over 157 miles per hour. Irma reached 185 miles per hour, and gusts were said to reach 200 miles per hour. Some say the time has come for the designation of “Category 6”.

But not only does Irma go down in the history books as the most monstrous hurricane over the Atlantic Ocean, it will also be known as one of the most powerful storms of all time. It only trails Hurricane Allen in 1980, which had winds of 190 mph and is tied for second most intense with Hurricane Wilma in 2005, Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and the 1935 Florida Keys hurricane.

Hurricanes do not normally pose a threat to North America. The U.S.

has only been hit by more than one Category 4 hurricane in a season one time: 1915. Two Category 4 hurricanes hit in Texas and Louisiana six weeks apart that year. With Harvey and Irma, the status quo is changing.

Luckily, some islands yesterday were counting their lucky stars, such as Antigua – its dependency, Barbuda, not so lucky though, suffering widespread destruction of houses and other buildings and one related death – which fell under the eye of the storm. Other northern Leewards including the French Overseas Territories where two people were reportedly killed, also recorded damage: loss of communications; damage to police infrastructure; blocked roads; and a fire.

But more is to come. The trailing Tropical Storm Jose was due to become a hurricane last night. By noon yesterday another Tropical Storm, Katia, had formed in the Gulf of Mexico. All mere days after Hurricane Harvey killed some 70 people. No rest for nature.

The big issue now is whether we are prepared for any of this.

At times, it seems as though we are not prepared for normal rainfall, far less seriously dangerous storm systems. Localised freak storms regularly cause significant damage here.

We are grateful Caricom has taken a lead role in the regional response to hurricanes. It will fall to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Authority to coordinate relief efforts as needed in the days ahead.

Not everybody has a hurricane- proof wine cellar like Sir Richard Branson, so the availability of advanced information and the widespread diffusion of warnings is crucial to allow adequate evacuation.

But this is just part of the overall system of preparedness.

We must do everything to keep abreast of technology and put systems in place to predict storms and to also bolster infrastructure as much as possible. There must also be a storm-preparedness culture in households. We cannot be complacent on any level.

And that is mainly because the unusual weather trends which the world has been experiencing are posing a severe hazard to our quality of life.

It could be said that storms like Irma are the end results of processes put in train a long time ago by large, wealthy, industrialised nations.

They must be lobbied to take note and effect change. Or else we will continue to learn a terrible lesson: who don’t hear will feel.

There has been no specific announcement about what happened to the minister and MP of La Horquetta/Talparo. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh visited Cuffie yesterday. After seeing him, Deyalsingh spoke to media yesterday and said after Cuffie took in with a “medical episode” he was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was stabilised. He said the family then took a decision to transfer him to the St Clair Medical Centre because they had a history of using the facility.

Deyalsingh said this episode required Cuffie to be warded in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He said when he saw him, Cuffie was in good spirits.

Cuffie suffered a mild stroke a few years ago while he was editor of the TnT Mirror. Asked if it was another stroke Deyalsingh said, “at this particular point in time, I would let the doctors have that conversation with the family.” In a release, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) also said it was a “medical episode.” The OPM said Cuffie’s doctors were pleased with his progress. Cuffie’s wife Hermia Tyson-Cuffie and family who rushed to his bedside during the course of Tuesday night have expressed their thanks for all the support and concern expressed by people at all levels from the moment they heard he had fallen ill.

The Category Five hurricane struck the Leeward Islands on Tuesday night, the same time the Patriots were playing Trinbago Knight Riders in Qualifier One.

The Patriots defeated the Knight Riders by 38 runs at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba to qualify for Saturday’s final.

A number of players on the team are from the Leeward Islands including Antiguan Devon Thomas, while Tonito Willet and Jeremiah Louis are both from St Kitts and Nevis.

On Tuesday night, Simmons said hopefully the cricket would have been a positive distraction for residents in the Leeward Islands.

“All of us on the Patriots, our hearts and minds are over there and hoping that it is not as destructive as they are predicting and everybody would be safe.

This (victory) will go a long way in helping them ease their minds for a little while.” Asked if members of the team contacted their families back home Simmons said, “I am sure everybody was in contact with their families during the day (on Tuesday) when they started hearing that it was heading that way. I think everybody would be anxious to see what happens overnight, where it goes from there and then they can call again and make sure everybody is alright. I am sure they have been in touch.”

The release extended condolences to the Broadbridge family during their time of grief and said the murder has left the association deeply shaken and called on citizens to do their part in taking back TT.

“Many members in our Association are traumatised and greatly disturbed not only about this murder but also the many murders and heinous crimes that occur daily in our twin island republic.

It has now reached a point where we as citizens of this nation need to make every effort to take back our country.” The release added that rampant crime rates threaten the growth and the future of the tourist industry citing an increase in violent crimes could hamper tourist arrivals during economically turbulent times.

“As a major tourism stakeholder, TTITOA is pleading with the relevant authorities to move swiftly and sift out all the criminal elements in each community and at the various strata of our society.

This is not auguring well for ‘tourism’ to move forward in Trinidad and Tobago as we are already way behind our regional neighbours and in the embryonic stage of development of the industry.” In a separate release issued yesterday, the TT Coalition of Service Industries (TTCSI) also extended their condolences to Broadbridge’s family adding that her death marked a cultural loss to the nation and noting her dedication in preserving TT’s cultural legacy.

The coalition also urged authorities to take the necessary action in arresting the crime situation. “In light of this, the TTCSI recognises the need for urgent conversation and affirmative action as it relates to the escalating crime situation in Trinidad and Tobago.” Broadbridge was killed at her St Ann’s home on Saturday afternoon by unknown assailants. It is believed that her throat was slit and the killers set fire to part of the house before fleeing the scene.

Her murder has sparked an outcry within the local art and cultural communities who have condemned the murder.

Three weeks ago, the Basel AML Index Report, which ranks countries according to their risk of money laundering and terrorist financing, was issued. Regrettably, Trinidad and Tobago was considered the second highest risk country in the Caribbean and ranked 35 after Haiti at 17.

This 2017 edition of the Basel Report covers 146 countries and provides risk ratings based on the quality of a country’s framework for anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing (AML/ CFT) and measures the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing of countries.

A total of 14 indicators dealing with AML/CFT regulations, corruption, financial standards, political disclosure and the rule of law are then aggregated into one overall risk score which is then used to rank countries. These indicators are grouped into five categories which are Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing, Corruption Risk, Financial Transparency and Standards, Public Transparency and Accountability and Political Risk. Trinidad and Tobago was also on the list of top ten countries whose ratings declined and recorded a higher risk rating this year.

Furthermore, since 2015 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has conducted and published 32 Mutual Evaluation Reports under a new assessment methodology, which combines an assessment of the FATF 40 recommendations based on technical compliance with an effectiveness assessment of the AML system. Of these 32 countries, which are arranged from low risk to high risk, Trinidad and Tobago ranked number 23; in other words, 23rd in 32 countries with the 32nd being the riskiest.

Additionally, on August 21 2017, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published outcomes from a new and enhanced round of peer reviews aimed at assessing compliance with international standards for the exchange of information on request between tax authorities. The first round of Global Forum peer reviews was completed from 2010 to 2016 and was generally done using a two-step process: first was the assessment of the legal and regulatory framework for information exchange (Phase 1) and second, the assessment of the actual practices and procedures (Phase 2). The new round of peer reviews – launched in mid-2016 – follows the sixyear process in 119 jurisdictions worldwide. Some jurisdictions, which were never able to show that they had made the necessary changes during the first round of reviews, were issued an overall rating of “Non-Compliant”. This was the case for Guatemala, Federated States of Micronesia, and Trinidad and Tobago. Guatemala and the Federated States of Micronesia have since demonstrated significant improvements and would now be rated “Largely Compliant”. Trinidad and Tobago was not able to show sufficient progress and remains the only jurisdiction rated “Non- Compliant”.

It is tempting to brush aside these external rankings and deem them to be insignificant of the other challenges in which we find ourselves.

However, doing so would reflect nothing but ignorance. In fact, this may be an opportunity to reinvent ourselves as a strong economic and business power in the Caribbean at least. We just need the political will to make it so.

Secondly, the initial results that were released online, which some parents were awaiting to send abroad, have in some cases at the CAPE level been upgraded. Although many children and parents are thrilled, there are some students already at universities who could have received greater bursaries with these new results and have unfortunately had to settle for less.

Now many have speculated about the causes of these happenings – which we, as Trinidadians are quite good at doing, if there are no explanations given. So, firstly, I believe we are entitled atleast to an honest response as to why these incidents have occurred, as these results can determine the future study and career path of many of our young people, and we parents are very anxious and unsettled about the whole situation. We the parents really hope that the process for the correction of these examinations will improve in the years to come, it is hoped that steps will be taken to identify the problems in the procedure.

Toni a Leacock via email

Muhammad’s clothing label is called Ayana Ife, and that’s the name she uses on PR16.

Ife, 27, who resides in Salt Lake City, Utah, was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up with her parents and siblings in upstate New York.

Her parents raised six of their 11 children in TT before migrating. The other five siblings were born in the US.

“Because I have such a huge family it was very eventful. Never a dull moment. We all grew up together then moved once we became adults, for work or school. My siblings are all spread out over the US, in Alaska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, LA, Utah,” Ife revealed in an online interview.

Ife was home-schooled by her mother. She then attained a Bachelor of Science degree in Apparel Design from Middle Tennessee State University.

To date, she has been awarded the Outstanding Senior award for her designs and work ethic in the university’s Fashion Design Department.

Ife first set her eyes on designing long before her teenage years and began by jazzing-up her siblings’ clothes which she inherited.

“I learned to sew at age six. When I turned ten I knew it was what I wanted to do. Designing was always something I felt very strongly about.

It started as a necessity….I have three brothers and seven sisters. I am the eighth child, so I would up-cycle and redesign my hand-me-downs …” And indeed, by fifth grade Ife sold her first freelance garment to a classmate.

She soon discovered that her designing ability and fashion perspective could grow into a livelihood both fulfilling and lucrative. She plunged herself into the fashion world, doing research, attending workshops, summer courses, volunteering, sewing for neighbours, giving styling advice, shadowing professionals, outfitting men, women, children and building a clientele of loyal customers.

Was there another profession she would have considered instead of designing? “I was originally expected to attend nursing school, (but) when I was taking prerequisites, I felt very unfulfilled. Like I was leaving a special part of myself behind. In that moment, I knew it was time to follow my calling. So I decided to put my all into designing,” and that was in the summer of 2013. Ife said by fall she was enrolled in a fashion programme at Middle Tennessee State University, where she was living at that time, and subsequently transferred credits from the college she attended in upstate NY, as well as a couple prerequisite courses for nursing, and graduated in two years. She said triumphantly: “I continued moving forward with my dreams and here I am today.” On being a Muslim designer she said: “The experience has been incredible!” Her feelings as a contestant on PR16? “The Project Runway experience is the most surreal experience of my existence.” Ife applied to Project Runway four times and auditioned twice before she was selected. Her family and friends are extremely supportive and encouraging, and she has made so many friends on the show.

“I design trendy, modest fashion.

I am inspired by the ‘need’…because I am my target market. I start with pieces I know are tricky to find. I put my own modest design spin on classic pieces like blazers and button ups.

“I hope the exposure from Project Runway will help me get picked up by an acclaimed designer working heavily in the fashion world who wants to mentor me and essentially show me the ropes,” she said. Her ultimate goal is to create a very successful clothing label which caters to the modest market.

Trendy, easily accessible looks.

“I want to be such a force, that I am internationally acclaimed and respected for my inventive approach to modest fashion. I want my modest fashion lovers, my sisters to feel influential, fearless, and elegant! I want to create a fashion empire.” PR16 can be seen on Lifetime every Thursday at 8.30 pm.

The jilted woman from central Trinidad said she spent $30,000 on the function and invited 100 people. She says he must pay for the hurt he put her through and has been advised by her attorney Stephen Boodram that the Penal man may be in breach of the common law principle which governs the relationship between people planning to marry.

The woman requested anonymity because of, what she described as, the untold embarrassment caused on April 29. So depressed was she over the incident, she retreated to her bedroom and slit her left wrist. She had to be taken to the San Fernando General Hospital.

A pre-action protocol letter has been sent to the man who decided he was no longer interested in a continued relationship with the woman. In the letter, the woman said her parents purchased the food, drinks, the boyfriend’s gold and diamond engagement ring costing $5000, and her dress which cost $6000. The letter suggested to the man that he failed to show up without any valid reason.

“As a result, my client was put through severe embarrassment, hurt, mental trauma and suffered loss and expenses.” The case is a novel one that would engage a judge in the High Court who would try the issue of breach of contract. The last such case in which a judgement was delivered, was 17 years ago in which a Tableland woman won her claim against a Penal man for breach of promise to marry her.

He was ordered to pay compensation for the expenses she incurred, however the man died.

Boodram’s letter calls on the man to pay compensation to the woman. In an interview with Newsday yesterday outside the Supreme Court, San Fernando, the woman said on the day of the engagement party, her parents had to turn away guests and closed the gates to their home.

“Since then, I don’t step outside my house,” the woman said. “I go to work and come back home.

People on work do not know, except for close friends. My father suffered a heart attack and has since had an operation. I was shamed and only now I’m trying to pick up the pieces. Money cannot pay for the hurt I was put through, but it will help alleviate the pain knowing there is still justice.”

The residents are claiming that for the past 18 years, the roadway, which is now nearly impassable, has been in a deplorable condition as a result of potholes and landslips.

From as early as 4 am yesterday, the residents, armed with placards, burned tyres along the roadway shouting, “Fix Our Roads Now.” The protest was staged amidst heavy rainfall. The residents believe that they have been forgotten by Government and are now standing up for their rights.

“This rain is nothing compared to what we have been going through, we are now completely fed up,” said resident Vidal Sonilal.

He said there were numerous potholes along the roadway.

Member of Parliament for the area, Rodney Charles, in a media release, reiterated calls for Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan to repair the roads.

“The Minister needs to stop procrastinating and do the job for which he is paid by taxpayers and fix the bad roads in this constituency,” Charles said. On August 5, he said the Works Minister visited the constituency and saw for himself the deplorable conditions of the roads, but to date very little has been done to bring relief to residents and commuters.