Nothing gets our national pride going more than making that connection to the red, white and black.
And more importantly, protecting the red, white and black, for generations to come.
National resilience is threatened as we continue to face an increasing severity of natural disasters.
We are at a critical juncture where effective risk-reduction measures geared towards building our national resilience are needed.
Stacey-Ann Pi Osoria, managing director of PODS Emergency Management Consultancy & Solutions has been in the emergency management industry for over 20 years.
She admits that while much has been done to strengthen many aspects of TT’s national response, much more is required to make our people, communities, businesses, cities and sectors more resilient to disasters and emergencies.
The devastating impact on vulnerable communities – the loss of life, livelihoods and assets that are caused by events such as flooding, landslides or major earthquakes and more recently, influenced by climate change, where we are seeing new record levels of temperature and humidity – all lead to rising costs of prevention, response and rehabilitation.
As a result, preserving the safety, security and prosperity of all parts of our society is becoming more challenging.
What avenues are there to bring stakeholders together – public and private sector, and civil society alike – to discuss these issues?
Addressing this gap has become a passion for Pi Osoria. Her vision was to create a forum, bringing together all stakeholders in emergency management as well as those responsible for policy and regulations, to discuss what is getting in the way of building our resilience to hazards and reducing the impact.
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In June 2024, PODS hosted TT's first Disaster Risk Management Conference and Expo at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain.
TTDRM24, the inaugural conference, was themed All Hands On Deck and brought together all stakeholders to explore further integration, collaboration and country-level implementation.
Holistically, the goals of TTDRM are to:
• Strengthen disaster risk governance
• Promote stakeholder collaboration – working across silos
• Advocate for a "whole of society approach"
• Demonstrate technological advancements in disaster risk reduction
• Effect culture change
TTDRM24 secured key endorsements from ODPM, TEMA, Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government and Amcham, reaffirming Pi Osoria's vision to create this platform.
Along with these endorsements, the conference included keynote speeches by Minister of Planning and Development Pennelope Beckles-Robinson; Minister of Rural and Local Development Faris Al Rawi; Ronald Jackson, head of disaster risk reduction, recovery and resilience, UNDP and Richardo Aiken, community development specialist, Caribbean Development Bank.
The next conference, TTDRM26, is themed Resilience 360: Bridging Knowledge and Action. It is set to take place from June 1-3, 2026.
