PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – President of Parliament Drs. Gracita Arrindell, expresses her sympathy to the people of Japan and to their Government on behalf of the Parliament of Sint Maarten in this distressing time with respect to the devastating scale of last Friday’s earthquake and tsunami.
"The full extent of this disaster is unfolding as each day goes by where you see towns, entire villages and infrastructure have been inundated or completely wiped away. We too are shocked and saddened together with the rest of the world.
"I would like to on behalf of the Parliament of Sint Maarten, express our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the Japanese people and Government and to those who have lost family and friends. Our country in the past has experienced natural disasters and we can fully comprehend what the people of Japan in impacted areas are going through," Hon. President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell said on Sunday.
President of Parliament Arrindell added that she will be forwarding a letter of condolence to the National Diet of Japan which is Japan’s bicameral legislature composed of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the House of Councillors, via Japan’s Ambassador responsible for the Dutch Caribbean.
The Hon. President had the privilege to be introduced to the Hon. Ambassador Tatsuaki Iwata, during her visit to Barbados last November when she attended the funeral of the late Prime Minister of Barbados David Thompson.
Arrindell pointed out that the tsunami revealed that even for a prosperous country as Japan, preparing for the onslaught of a tsunami is difficult; however there is much that can be done to minimize the loss of life and damage to infrastructure, whenever disaster hits.
The Director of the Seismic Research Centre in Trinidad & Tobago Dr. Richard Robertson, in a media report says Caribbean countries should take heed of the damage caused by the powerful earthquake and tsunami.
Robertson added that in the Caribbean because of increase in population and the distribution of the population, we have actually increased our vulnerability to certain kinds of hazards, in particular to things like tsunamis and earthquakes, pointing out that the region need to put its house in order by putting measures in place to build greater resilience in a long term perspective to those kinds of hazards because they can affect us and it’s just a matter of time before we have a similar kind of natural disaster.
According to contingency planners, the type of resilient measures include designing buildings to withstand the impact of tsunami waves, having in place a early-warning system, public education programmes on what to do and most importantly evacuation strategies.
"I believe that we need to take the time to review our own state of preparedness and what other measures need to be taken for the long-term. We cannot afford to wait and be caught off guard. We have to have our house in order with contingency plans in place. We are a resilient people and have experienced disasters in the past and have overcome these. I will take the initiative in proposing to parliament that we have a Central Committee meeting with respect to our country’s current state of disaster preparedness and plans for the future," Hon. President of President Gracita Arrindell said on Sunday.
In conclusion the President of Parliament Hon. Arrindell calls on the nation to support any international effort that would be coordinated by the local Red Cross chapter to assist the people of parts of Japan that have been stricken by the earthquake and tsunami