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New­ly ap­point­ed Min­is­ter of Pub­lic Util­i­ties Bar­ry Padarath has wast­ed no time is mak­ing his dis­ap­point­ment with how the Of­fice of Dis­as­ter Pre­pared­ness and Man­age­ment (ODPM) op­er­ates.

Speak­ing dur­ing the launch of the 18th Na­tion­al Cli­mate Out­look Fo­rum at the T&T Civ­il Avi­a­tion Au­thor­i­ty Train­ing Cen­tre at North Bank Road, Pi­ar­co, yes­ter­day, Padarath said he is un­hap­py with how the na­tion­al agency re­sponds to flood­ing, es­pe­cial­ly in rur­al com­mu­ni­ties.

“I al­ways say when com­mu­ni­ca­tion breaks down and the left hand is not speak­ing to the right hand. It is a recipe for dis­as­ter. There­fore, if you have an or­gan­i­sa­tion for dis­as­ter pre­pared­ness man­age­ment, there must be prepa­ra­tion, there must be com­mu­ni­ca­tion, be­cause as far as I see, while to­day we kick off the ob­ser­vances of dis­as­ter pre­pared­ness month, we are far from be­ing pre­pared,” Padarath told the gath­er­ing while de­liv­er­ing the fea­ture ad­dress.