Penal Debe corporation trains volunteers in disaster response

Community emergency response team members attend to a boy during a simulation exercise of a hurricane and flooding, as part of the Penal Debe Regional Corporation disaster management programme, at the Francis Seepaul Recreation Ground, Debe on August 7. - Photo by Lincoln Holder

THE Penal Debe Regional Corporation (PDRC) continues to build its disaster resilience through the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) programme.

Since 2018, the municipal corporation has trained and added volunteers to its emergency response framework, according to Videsh Lal, co-ordinator of the PDRC disaster management unit (DMU). About 350 have been trained in critical skills such as search and rescue, fire suppression and basic first aid.

"CERT is really a community training programme in which we have recognised that within the first 48 hours (of a disaster) people would more or less be alone before first responders arrive."

He added: "The first responders will become inundated with calls, communication routes via the roads will be blocked, power lines, fallen trees, so we are really trying (to get) people to be prepared for these 48 hours until the official help comes."

With this knowledge, he said, volunteers would be able to help themselves and their communities in times of crisis.

On August 7, some 70 of its latest trainees participated in a real-world simulation of a disaster at the Francis Seepaul Recreation Ground, Debe, putting the knowledge amassed during the 40-hour programme to the test. The simulation featured downed trees, fires, floods via a water truck and a host of medical emergencies.

Lal said attendees came from areas across the municipality like Wellington Gardens, La Romaine, Barrackpore and Penal Rock Road.

According to its website, about 60 per cent of its municipality falls within the Oropouche watershed, and almost 90 per cent is rural areas. It is especially susceptible to flooding. Lal said the additional manpower through the CERT programme helps to bolster response as the DMU has fewer than ten staffers at any given point in time. He noted that the entire municipal corporation staff are redirected to emergency response when a disaster arises, but the additional bodies will help.

"This really helps to build capacity in the region. It helps people to help themselves and their DMU and by extension their community to be more resilient, and if not, to at least if not help other people, to help themselves when a disaster happens."

He said the programme has helped increase individual awareness among residents on the importance of being prepared for such disasters.

Among the cadre participating in the simulation on August 5 was an aspiring accountant Bibi Khadija Ali, 17, of St Mary's, Moruga. She said she enrolled in the CERT training with the encouragement of her parents, especially as her community typically floods.

"It's a good training to encourage yourself with as a youth and to encourage other youths in my community."

She said she particularly enjoyed and appreciated the basic first aid training.

"It was a really great experience. I would encourage a lot of young people to get involved in these things because it would help develop you as a person."

Tally Mohammed, 61, of Wellington Gardens, said he was previously CERT trained but joined the current tranche to refresh his skills.

"I have a passion for helping people. Based on that I've made the decision to continue to be part of it."

He added: "I would encourage everybody to go ahead and be a part of this and be a part of the training so that we can provide that kind of support in the community for those who are vulnerable to disasters."

The Ministry of Housing, the Sustainable Climate Resilience Initiative, the TT Red Cross Society and the Fire Service were all part of the training with the PDRC.