Haiti

Until now, I've deliberately stepped clear of the hullabaloo over our Hon. Prime Minister's (PM's) statements regarding T&T's help to neighbours affected by the passing of Tropical Storm-cum-Hurricane Tomas.  Why?  Apart from being busy otherwise, the developing issue had all the symptoms of miscommunication: news reports containing edited statements from the Hon.

When the Prime Minister announced to CARICOM earlier this year that the Trinidad and Tobago ATM is now closed, many probably thought it was political rhetoric. Now that she is exercising the Republic’s prerogative by expecting some measure of reciprocity by our CARICOM brothers and sisters in their time of need she is being vilified. Many distanced themselves and have gone as far as to inflame the situation by declaring the policy as colonial.

Imagine being trapped under some rubble with only a mobile phone for company. You could be hurt, bleeding, hungry, dehydrated or any combination of the above. If the mobile infrastructure is even partially intact, calling people on the phone would be limited by the likely overload of the mobile system. But SMS messages get queued. They also drain less battery life which, if you're stuck, could be very important in saving your life or the life of someone you love.

This article in today's Trinidad Express suggested that the T&T government has mandated that all T&T organisations collecting money and supplies for relief efforts in Haiti must handover their collections to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM). To quote the article:

Via text message from BMobile:

Please help Haiti. Text HAITI to code GIVE (4483) to donate $10.00. Bmobile sends all proceeds to Medianet & Red Cross Relief Funds. Give to save a life.

So, one corporate sponsor could have a definitive impact on the amount of funding going to Haiti from Trinidad and Tobago's shores.

'But does that really balance the Beyonce issue?', someone asked me.

And I said: Do you think Beyonce would donate her proceeds from her concert to Haiti? 

I didn't write anything about the Haitian earthquake. Global Voices has a great roundup of posts discussing the Haitian Earthquake (and even more here), and I have no new facts to add to the mix. It's horrendous. It's devastating. It's sad.