For the first time in recent history, Trinidad and Tobago is poised to declare a Level (or Tier) Three emergency following the ongoing oil spill in its coastal waters, meaning that international aid will be formally requested.
The country has previously experienced tropical storms and hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and landslides, and other major impactful events, so why now? It has to do with the response officials can take within The National Response Framework – a document that outlines an overarching goal, objectives and principles that enable all response partners in Trinidad and Tobago to prepare for and provide a unified and integrated national response to disasters and emergencies – from the smallest incident to the largest catastrophe.
The National Response Framework includes five principles that guide T&T’s response to a disaster. One of these principles is a tiered response, which uses a three-level system of response based on the severity of an emergency.
Tier or Level 1 – A Local Emergency
A Level 1 emergency is a localized incident. Such incidents are within the capacity of the local government authorities and other first responder agencies within a Municipality or the Tobago Emergency Management Agency in the case of Tobago. The first responder agencies may include the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service (TTFS) and the Health Services, as necessary.
At Level 1, the Emergency Operations Centre of the Municipal Corporation or Tobago will be activated as needed to coordinate the Regional, Borough or City response. This is common following floods or localized incidents during the Wet Season, and some examples of a Level 1 emergency would be a home being destroyed by fire, a community being flooded or affected by high winds, or trees blocking a roadway.
Tier or Level 2 – A National Emergency
At Level 2, the emergency or disaster event usually affects two or more municipal regions/Tobago, or while confined to one municipality, may be of a very serious nature (that is, have the potential for significant loss of life or damage to property, environment or economy). In such instances, the response can be dealt with using municipal and national resources.
If it is perceived that a Level 1 incident has the potential to escalate to a Level 2 event, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management’s (ODPM) National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) would be notified and become partially activated. This activation would facilitate the closer monitoring of events and initiate preparation for a response should the Level 1 response become overwhelmed.
This is the coordination and management center where all emergency or disaster response and relief operations are organized. The ODPM and other government agencies gather here to manage and relay information to their respective agencies and to field officers.
If these events are tied to a hydro-meteorological event, like hazardous seas or severe weather, an orange-level alert/watch/warning would trigger the partial activation of the NEOC, while a red-level alert/watch/warning would result in the full activation of the NEOC.
Depending on the type of incident, greater resources would be required at Level 2 for damage assessment, search and rescue, security/crowd control, relief supply distribution, etc. The Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) usually becomes involved at this level.
Some recent examples are the passage of Tropical Storm Bret in 2017, the October 2018 floods, and Tropical Storm Karen in 2019.
Tier or Level 3 – International Assistance Needed
At Level 3, should the national resources become overwhelmed, the President will declare a national emergency. In such a scenario, the ODPM, through the Ministries of National Security, Foreign Affairs and Finance, will coordinate the acquisition of regional and international aid assistance.
The President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is authorized by law to proclaim a
‘state of emergency’ or a ‘disaster area’ (Disaster Measures Act 1978). A ‘state of emergency’ proclamation is the legal method which authorizes extraordinary measures to meet emergencies and/or solve disaster problems. A proclamation allows for the emergency use of resources, the bypassing of time-consuming requirements and the activation of extraordinary measures.
A proclamation is usually a prerequisite for state assistance and is made at the onset of a disaster to allow the local government to do as much as possible to help itself. Any proclamation issued has the force of law and supersedes any conflicting provision of law during the period of the declared emergency.
Politicians in the past have declared a national emergency or disaster without one ever formally being proclaimed. This last occurred during the October 2018 Flood, where Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley called the incident a “National Disaster,” which was subsequently run in a national newspaper, but the president did not issue an official national disaster declaration in accordance with the Disaster Measures Act.
Other Tiered Response Levels
Other government ministries and hazard response plans also have similar tiers, namely the country’s National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP), the custodian of which is the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, which also leads the Incident Command Team in the event of a major spill.
- Tier One: Small local oil spills where in-house response capability is adequate.
- Tier Two: Medium-sized spills that can significantly impact the vicinity and Area or National support for adequate spill response is required.
- Tier Three: Large spills requiring substantial resources and support from Regional or International spill co-operatives to mitigate effects perceived to be wide-reaching, i.e., of regional or international significance.
Based on the NOSCP, a small spill is defined as less than 50 barrels of crude oil (or the average most probable discharge from the leak’s source, which is a mathematical calculation). A medium spill is the greater of 700 barrels of crude oil or 10% of the worst-case discharge, which is another mathematical calculation. A large spill is over 700 barrels of crude oil or greater than 10% of the worst-case discharge.
In the case of the ongoing Tobago Oil Spill (2024), the capacity of the leaking ship is unknown, and there has been no formal estimate of how much oil(-like substance) has leaked as of February 11th, 2024. However, nearly 45 kilometers of coastline have been affected, spanning as far as Roxborough to Crown Point, Tobago.
