The recent downpours have undoubtedly brought destruction to many. And while this has sobered the national spirit, it has also sparked solidarity and community. The team at Vessel agrees that there’s tremendous room for improvement in our national infrastructure, but it isn’t all about drainage, engineering, or littering.

Here are 18 ideas we put together, to nudge T&T towards flood-security.

1. Free Wi-fi so that students, teachers, workers and parents could work at home. This will clear up roadways, and in turn reduce the risk of accidents.
2. The ability to trade-in all flood-damaged appliances for discounts on new ones. Flood-damaged appliances to be salvaged for workable parts and scrap metal.
3. PHITT Public Health Information of Trinidad and Tobago — a public health database with centralised information on nearby clinics for those stranded, and / or in need of emergency assistance.
4. Water trucks to collect and filter water to be reused, maybe for washing away silt once the conditions permit.
5. Training for all who helped in flood relief to become certified as disaster safety officers.
6. Suspension of property tax for 10 years.
7. Suspension of VAT on all appliance and furniture purchases.
8. Creation of a global school or programme for flood management and relief.
9. Trinidad and Tobago becomes a global advocate and evangelist for sustainable development and climate change, to create expert publications and develop a global research agenda.
10. Land exchange. Residents in flood-prone areas can exchange their land for non-flood prone areas on a short term basis while working on sustainable solutions.
11. An online citizen chat, “Flood Solutions”, where people document their problems and share solutions.
12. Government sale on all those massive and expensive ‘official’ vehicles, downsizing a bit to smaller ones. The money saved would be invested in a unit of helicopters for times of disaster.
13. Dissuasion of religious leaders from linking this, and any natural disaster, as punishment from god, especially for lifestyle matters such as sexual orientation. This is counter-productive.
14. Creation of community laundromats to wash and dry all clothes at inexpensive rates.
15. Development of ‘fast-inflatable-dingy-kits’ for cars and homes, schools, other institutions and business places.
16. Incentives to encourage the preservation of trees and the building of tree houses so that people won’t have to sleep on roofs.
17. Encouraging the construction of rope ladders.
18. Limited use of rooftop flashing lights on houses and cars.

What do you think? If you’ve got thoughts on our ideas or brilliant ones of your own, we’d love to hear from you. Email us at info@lokjackgsb.edu.tt

And stay safe!