 The UWI St. Augustine campus has partnered with the Disaster Unit of the Tunapuna Piarco Regional Corporation (TPRC) to develop its capabilities to respond to emergency and disaster type situations. The campus represents a sizeable and unique entity within the jurisdiction of the Corporation and the emergencies may not be similar in nature to other places in the country.
The TPRC delivered CERT training for 80 participants from various departments across the campus and members of The UWI Security Services. The CERT programme is one by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), US Department of Homeland Security, and it has been adopted locally by the ODPM and Disaster Units of the various Regional Corporations. This programme educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may affect their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations. Using the training from the 5-day programme, CERT members can assist following an event when professional responders are not immediately available.
This training ended with an emergency response exercise on April 8, simulating smoke, explosions and injured persons in the Alma Jordan Library. CERT members were required to establish an Incident Command Team, manage the emergency and treat victims. All of this was carried out under the guidance of external agencies such as the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service (Fire Prevention Officers, Search and Rescue Teams), the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (Canine Division and the St. Joseph and Tunapuna Police Stations), the Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross Society and the Disaster Unit of the TPRC.
The exercise tested the Campus’ readiness to respond to emergency situations; the preparedness of internal emergency services such as the Division of Facilities Management, the Health Services Unit, the UWI Security Services; the response time of the CERT members; the availability of equipment to access the building and search for and rescue injured persons.
The exercise allowed us to understand where our strengths lie as well as identify opportunities for improvement.
Rajesh Kandhai is Manager, Occupational Health, Safety and the Environment, UWI St. Augustine. |
