Somali pirates attack Dutch warship

HNLMS Tromp (F803)

Every so often, someone does something amazingly silly that make you just laugh. This was the case when Somali pirates mistakenly tried to hijack a Dutch frigate today. The HNLMS Tromp is loaded with all kinds of missiles, torpedoes, really large guns and other armaments.

This warship is almost twice the size of another Dutch warship--the HNLMS Van Amstel--that visited Trinidad last year.

We could use a couple of fighting frigates in our Coast Guard.

Excellent Trini youth

Top: Model Trini 13-yr-old, Nick Sinanan.

Bottom: Chilean looters.

Just when some are ready to give up on our nation’s restless youth, we hear an inspiring story like this:

“Nick Sinanan has more hobbies and talents than most people will have in their entire life. And he is just 13.

Nick runs on Lafayette Middle School’s track team and is captain of the school’s soccer team.

He also plays ice hockey, is a black belt in karate, a member of the children’s Mardi Gras outfit Krewe of Augustus, a scuba diver and mixes music on turntables in his spare time. He also excels at academics. “My favourite subject, besides lunch, is math and science,” he said, jokingly.”

Just in case anyone thought Chileans showed any more restraint than Haitians in the aftermath of earthquakes, there is a first person account of Chilean youth rampaging through the capital city’s streets robbing anyone they found. This was mere minutes after the earthquake, at 4 am!

At least the Haitians waited a few days before looting. And their looting was mainly for food, whereas many Chileans seemed to have a preference for TVs and other electronic goods.

No wonder vigilante groups emerged.

Take note, T&T.

Preparing for our own earthquake

Since Haiti’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake and now Chile’s 8.8, some Trinidadians and Tobagonians have been paying attention and wondering about our readiness for our own ‘overdue’ quake.

Waiting for a government directive through the Office of Disaster Planning and Management (ODPM) may work. But it certainly won’t pay. Far better to prepare ourselves, family and community by stockpiling water/food, a redundant security system—preferably in conjunction with our immediate community—and medical supplies, plus whatever other preparations we’d need to rebuild and return to some degree of normalcy. In short, we need beans, bullets and band-aids. 

And training.

Organise family emergency drills. Then at the street level. Then at the neighbourhood level. Then the entire community, if possible. Video everything, then look for weaknesses and strengths. Eliminate or reduce the weak parts of the plan, and build on the strengths.

Document and pass on to other communities. Rinse. Repeat.

While on the subject, shouldn’t the Tobago-based Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) pilot program finally reach Trinidad? Maybe AFTER the disaster…

T&T’S CHILE RESPONSE

“Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his Government is monitoring the situation in Chile and will take appropriate steps soon.”

The Chilean government does not want outside help, and has said so itself:

‘Chile has so far not requested foreign assistance, saying it can handle the immediate relief effort.

Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez said Chile did not want aid offers to be "a distraction", adding: "Any aid that arrives without having been determined to be needed really helps very little."’

Civilized people don’t go where they’re not wanted. Are we savages?