PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Citizens must make themselves ready to deal with disasters and not depend on the Government, head of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM), Dr Stephen Ramroop, said yesterday.
Ramroop was speaking at the eighth session of the Inter-Governmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean, at Capital Plaza in Port of Spain.
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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 struck near St. Kitts and Nevis on Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of death of damage on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
The U.S Geological Survey said that the quake, which occurred at 2.53 am (local time) and its epicentre was located at 17.48 degrees north and 62.14 degrees west. It had a depth of 30.4 miles and was felt in St. Kitts-Nevis, and the French island of Guadeloupe.
The Seismic Unit of the University of the West Indies said that the quake occurred west of Barbuda.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - The music we listen to reflects our innermost feelings and our relationship with society, and if society does not offer opportunities for jobs and a meaningful life, then music won’t offer narratives that reflect hope and opportunity for loving relationships and acceptance into society. That is why we have hip hop culture infiltrating T&T. That’s why so many teenagers listen to violent dancehall and rap music that terrifies those of us who lock ourselves away from a certain faction in society.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad-born United Kingdom-based writer, Monique Roffey, whose work titled “Archipelago” based on the 2008 floods here, has won the US$10,000 2013 One Caribbean Media (OCM) Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. St. Lucian poet, Kendel Hippolyte won the poetry category for his collection “Fault Lines” while Guyanese writer Rupert Roopnarine won the non-fiction category with his publication “The Sky’s Wild Noise”. There were 40 entries. “This is a response to something very tragic that happened to my family.
KINGSTON, Jamaica – (Today), Barbados will celebrate National Heroes Day, and highlighting the activities will be the presentation of the prestigious Clement Payne Appreciation Award to legendary Barbadian novelist, political commentator, essayist, and public intellectual, Mr George Lamming, appropriately marking the 60th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work, In the Castle of My Skin.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaica's former Prime Minister PJ Patterson receiving South Africa's highest award presented to non-nationals, the Order of the Companions of OR Tambo, from President Jacob Zuma at the annual Freedom Day ceremony in Pretoria on Saturday. The Order, instituted on December 6, 2002, is awarded to foreign nationals (heads of state and governments) and other foreign dignitaries for friendship shown to South Africa. It is designated an order of peace, co-operation and active expression of solidarity and support.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - THE recent decision by the South Africa Government to confer on Guyana's late President Forbes Burnham its highest national honour designated for outstanding foreign citizens- — the Oliver Tambo Award (gold) — has drawn strong criticisms from two well-known Jamaican scholars and Pan-Africanists — Dr Rupert Lewis and Dr Horace Campbell.
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC - Political activist and social commentator Jomo Thomas has tendered his resignation from the National Heroes Selection Committee in protest against a speech delivered on national; heroes by Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves. “I am convinced that the Prime Minister’s presentation has made our work superfluous,” Thomas wrote in his resignation letter to the chair person of the Committee, Rene Baptiste, a former culture minister here.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - At Wednesday’s consultation with religious bodies on the 2012 draft national policy on gender and development, Leela Ramdeen, chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice, raised a curious argument regarding the definition of gender in the document.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The European Union is providing J$2.5 billion (One Jamaica dollar = US$0.01 cents) in grant funding to boost the delivery of maternal and paediatric health care in public health institutions in Jamaica. Health Minister Dr. Fenton Ferguson said the allocation is expected to further advance the government’s efforts to meet the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for significant improvements in these two key areas. Dr.