Chairman of the National Building Code Committee Shyankaran Lalla says 80 per cent of T&T’s building stock will be seriously damaged if a major natural disaster were to occur and lossess could be as much as $50 billion. He said so at a news conference with the Housing and Urban Development Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal at the ministry, George Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
It was called to update citizens on plans for a national building code within the next 12 months. Lalla said T&T and the Caribbean region experienced 130 seismic events within six months and “that is alarming and cause for serious concern.” He said it was not earthquakes that killed people but poorly constructed buildings do. He said if a major disaster was to hit T&T 80 per cent of building stock would be at risk of serious damage and losses could reach as high as $50 billion.
Lalla said citizens should not fool themselves into believeing T&T was ready for any such eventuality but insisted the Government was doing what it could to prepare the nation better for any such disaster. Moonilal said the development of a national building code would establish a set of minimum standards for the protection, safety and health of citizens.
He said the Cabinet-appointed committee was set up in April 2012, adding that the code will standardise building methods and materials to a large extent and improve the resilience of the built environment to minimise losses due to natural and man-made disasters. Moonilal said earlier this month, Cabinet approved US$27,000 from the budget of the National Buildings Code Committee for licencing fees and other related expenses for the International Code Council (ICC) to visit T&T for the historic signing of a licence agreement in Port-of-Spain shortly.