Trinidad and Tobago Opposition Chief Pennelope Beckles-Robinson, heart in tangerine outfit, with members of the New York-based Caribbean Diaspora United, Inc. (CDU).
Picture by Nelson A. King
Given the area’s vulnerability to hurricanes and different pure disasters, the New York-based Caribbean Diaspora United, Inc. (CDU), below the management of former Grenada Ambassador to the United Nations Eugene M. Pursoo, launched its Caribbean Diaspora Everlasting Pure Catastrophe Fund on Saturday, July 12.
The launch occurred at CDU’s Second Annual Neighborhood Unity Breakfast on the beautiful Russo’s on the Bay on Crossway Boulevard in Howard Seashore, Queens.
“The Caribbean area is likely one of the world’s areas most susceptible to pure catastrophe, significantly hurricanes,” stated Amb. Pursoo in launching the Fund. “Yearly, the area experiences intensive devastation from hurricanes, coastal erosion, landslides, flooding, occasional volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and different pure disasters.
“From the smallest islands like Carriacou (one in all Grenada’s two sister isles; the opposite is Petite Martinique) via the Windwards (Windward Islands), Barbados, the Leeward Islands, the bigger islands like Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Haiti, these disasters wreak havoc on the native economies, leading to extreme dislocations and deaths,” he added.
Pursoo stated that whereas hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and the present menace of sargassum invasions make the information, quiet disasters like coral bleaching, the disappearance of mangroves, and different environmental threats are occurring with little fanfare.
“Companies within the coastal zones, the cradle of our financial growth, would discover it more and more troublesome to safe satisfactory insurance coverage protection,” he stated. “No matter the reason for our issues, now we have the first obligation to repair them.”
Pursoo, who’s quickly rising as a distinguished chief within the Caribbean Diaspora neighborhood with the capability to have interaction with the broader New York communities, made it clear that the CDU Catastrophe Fund is meant to be a everlasting fund that might allow the Diaspora to expedite reduction to the affected international locations.
“All year long, we’ll be interesting to you,” the previous Grenadian envoy instructed patrons on the occasion, which introduced collectively near 500 attendees from the New York Caribbean Diaspora, the African American Neighborhood, the Continental African Diaspora, the Indo-Caribbean Neighborhood, and different ethnicities.
New York State Sen. Siela A. Bynoe, a first-generation Caribbean-American, who chairs the Senate Standing Committee on Libraries, additionally urged patrons to contribute to the Fund.
“Once we hear of those storms, I encourage every of you to make a donation – make a donation out of your coronary heart,” stated the consultant for Nassau County, Lengthy Island, sixth Senate District, whose father hailed from Suriname and mom from St. Kitts and Nevis.
The occasion’s visitor of honor, Pennelope A. Beckles-Robinson – upon whom a number of locally-elected officers, entertainers and different New York Metropolis dignitaries bestowed citations and awards in celebration of her historic achievement as the primary lady to be elected chief of the Folks’s Nationwide Motion (PNM) in Trinidad and Tobago – stated she had “the great fortune to be Minister of Atmosphere” when the Nutmeg Business was “nearly worn out.”
“The prime minister on the time, Patrick Manning, determined to ship me to Grenada,” stated Beckles-Robinson, referring to widespread devastation attributable to Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
“You could have a scenario that you just don’t perceive what occurs in many Caribbean international locations,” added the previous everlasting consultant of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations. “When the volcano erupted in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, ash went to Barbados.
“One other means is sargassum,” Beckles-Robinson continued. “You go to St. Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua, and you’ll’t profit from utilizing the seashores.”
Sargassum is a kind of free-floating brown seaweed (algae) that types giant mats within the ocean, significantly within the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, and has just lately change into a menace on Caribbean seashores.
Beckles-Robinson stated it’s “essential” that the Fund be arrange to help the area throughout pure disasters.
“I can not overemphasize the significance of this initiative,” she stated. “I urge every one in all you to assist this Fund.”
Eugene stated checks could be made payable to CDU Catastrophe Fund and mailed to 805 Pepperidge Rd., Westbury, NY 11590.
