A GUY'S VIEW: Has God moved out?
“God like he en’ no Bajan no more so we have to be careful.” According to these recently common sentiments, Barbados may no longer be the safe heaven where nothing untoward happens.
We have to rise to meet our new challenges. We cannot hide and pray without helping ourselves. Prayer or wishful thinking without action is what separates development from backwardness. The harsher the conditions, the stronger must be our resolve to rise and succeed, regardless of what comes.
A category 1 hurricane damaged over 1,000 properties in this country. Given our small population, that is not good enough. This experience plus what the scientists tell us about climate change, give us ample warning and an opportunity to put our proverbial and literal house in order.
Clearly, too many of our houses are not good enough to withstand even a moderate weather system and many home owners are not financially able to improve their lot. Yes, our authorities have to lead the way in strengthening our housing stock. I am not advocating giving everyone a house, but there is much that can be done to ensure that those who have houses have strongly built houses.
A paper building code does not help those who are just struggling to put a roof over their heads. Such persons cannot be bothered with codes and statutory threats. They need a different kind of assistance.
Elsa taught us that we need to overhaul our national infrastructure beyond housing. A number of measures are needed if we are to live with increased hostile weather systems. National consciousness must be placed above private interests if our workers are to survive and live comfortably in the future.
Our brilliant technology experts run everything we use in our daily lives through the Barbados Light and Power Company. From a high wind, a fallen tree, to a monkey has all been known to knock out our power supply. And we build our lives upon that rock.
So a storm passes by: the electricity goes off; the telephone cannot function; the Wi-Fi signal disappears; there can be no cellular phone communication; cellular phones cannot be charged; persons with electric stoves cannot cook; home owners and small business people lose their refrigerated stock; electrical items are damaged or destroyed; and on and on.
We cannot accept that our service providers are doing their best when their best is far short of reasonable. We must demand better from them and those who set our policy must hold them to higher standards. If they are ignorant of our needs, our leaders must establish the standards for them or look elsewhere for better.
Scientists tell us that storms will visit us more frequently now, so why would the Barbados Light and Power Company not place more of their assets underground? It is not good enough to wait until poles are toppled and wires downed and then tell us how hard they are working on our behalf. The fact that power lines are suspended by poles elsewhere does not make that acceptable to our circumstances.
Our lack of national consciousness allows us to transfer our national institutions into foreign hands. The Barbados Light and Power Company Limited gave us excellent service. When will we recognise that foreign investors have different interests from national service providers?
If our telecommunications companies cannot provide us with a reliable service without depending on a spotty electricity supply, they must pay a penalty when our service is disrupted. Some of us are old enough to remember when the electricity supply did not affect our telephone service. They have made our telecommunications less reliable and we should not be forced to suffer.
If by chance we can call for help, our call is answered in another country. We have no recourse when those calls bear no fruit.
The level of destruction of property we saw in a category 1 system speaks to a number of inadequacies, including poor quality of workmanship. Houses are not blown away because they are constructed of wood, so the argument that we must stop building in wood is not the solution to preventing hurricane damage. Inferior quality materials, construction items and workmanship must be examined.