Trinidad and Tobago to benefit from a disaster risk information platform
Trinidad and Tobago stands to benefit from a Disaster Risk Information Exchange (RiX) Platform through the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management’s (ODPM) ongoing partnership with the Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean of the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction Centre (UNDRR).
On September 29-30, 2022, the ODPM, as the National Disaster Office, collaborated with the UNDRR to host a workshop for key government agencies on the RiX platform, at the Radisson Hotel in Port-of Spain. Trinidad and Tobago is the first country in the English-speaking Caribbean region to benefit from this initiative and the workshop was designed to introduce participants to the platform and to demonstrate its full range of capabilities.
Earlier this year, the UNDRR launched the global platform, which is a dynamic repository of information, geared towards strengthening risk knowledge. Through the UNDRR’s support, countries are assisted to collate national, regional and global open-source, multi-sectoral data on hazards, vulnerability, exposure and capacity. The platform harmonises the data to produce systemic risk information, enabling improved analysis and faster, evidenced-based decision-making and action at the national, community and individual levels.
The platform also makes risk information accessible and usable to the public and informs policies, programmes, plans and Impact-based Forecasting. It will complement existing databases and by encouraging contributors to adhere to a national standard. It will ensure data compatibility, making data collection and information sharing more efficient and effective.
Contributors and users of the system will include but are not limited to government agencies, the private sector, NGOs and CBOs, academic institutions, and regional and international organisations.
At the launch of the 2-day workshop, the CEO of the ODPM, Major General (Retired) Rodney Smart, thanked Mr. Carlos Uribe, the UNDRR-ROAMC’s Programme Manager, for providing the country with the opportunity to establish this national ecosystem for disaster risk and climate data. He also indicated that the platform was timely, as it would assist the country to move faster in accomplishing some of the requirements under the Sendai Framework. The Framework is the global roadmap for Disaster Risk Reduction and the ODPM is the national agency responsible for implementing it.
In his response, Mr Uribe thanked the CEO for his warm welcome and remarks. He highlighted that the platform would indeed assist Trinidad and Tobago implement the Sendai Framework, along with the objectives under the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Representatives from several agencies attended the workshop. These included the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government (MRDLG), Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (MEII), Ministry of Works and Transport (MOWT), Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD), Ministry of Planning and Development (MPD), Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries (MALF), Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), Central Statistical Office (CSO), Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service (TTMS), UWI-Seismic Research Centre (UWI-SRC), Telecommunications Service of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT), Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC), Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) and the Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross Society (TTRCS).