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January 2010
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Immediately, this institution saw the need for public discussion on the occurrence, and on Thursday January 14th, the Seismic Research Centre held a press conference to address the cause of the catastrophic earthquake and its impact on the region. On the same day, two engineers from our St Augustine campus and medical personnel from the Mona campus in Jamaica joined a Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) assessment team which accompanied Jamaican Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, on his venture into Haiti. The team’s objective was to survey the damage to the island, determine which needs were of priority and investigate the most effective response strategy to get Haiti back on its feet. UWI will also dispatch a support team of psychologists, engineers, public health practitioners and other technical experts to Haiti, through an appropriate lead agency, if assistance is needed. The UWI community, propelled by compassion for the people of our fellow Caribbean island, has been constructing avenues through which to provide aid from home. Special bank accounts have been set up in each of the campus islands, here in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados, to allow staff and students to donate to an emergency fund. Staff and students are also collecting non-perishable food items, first-aid supplies, linen, toiletries and other such necessities to send to Haiti and encourage the rest of the country to do the same. UWI Vice Chancellor, Professor E. Nigel Harris has voiced his faith that The UWI community, “will respond generously, in cash as well as in kind, to alleviate the suffering of the people of Haiti” and he asserts that the University is determined to continue efforts to aid Haiti in the mid and long-term future. (Serah Acham)
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As Haitian society reels from the devastating earthquake that rocked the island on January 12th 2010, it can gain some small measure of comfort in knowing that the world has rallied together, determined to see it through these trying times. This occasion has forced today’s fast-paced, self-centered society to stop and shift its focus to this nation in dire need of help. Organizations and individuals around the world have dropped tasks at hand to offer what help they could, whether it be by physically venturing to the island or providing efforts from home, and The University of the West Indies has joined the ranks in full force.