Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer 

December 10, 2023 – There is an urgent need for a global methane agreement to drive the fight against worsening the climate crisis. Otherwise temperatures will continue to increase and more lives will be lost.

Mia Amor Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, known for her firm advocacy and award winning dedication to vocalising the path toward creating a safer planet, made the remark at this year’s Cop28 conference in the UAE.

With 180 seconds to speak, Mottley made powerful points regarding the needs for winning against climate change effects.

She expressed that without change in the approach to the climate crisis, the results will be catastrophic.

Regarding the global methane agreements, which she says the world needs, to help drive “concrete action,” to control methane, as the damage I can cause in the near future, exceeds that of Carbon Dioxide (CO2).

For progress to be made with methane control, she says oil and gas companies need to agree to fix leaks in their pipelines  as well as stop flaring.

Mottley highlights this against the fact that “oil and gas operations are the largest sources of methane methane emissions from the energy sector,” according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

In continuation, Mottley continues to speak about other factors in relation to methane, that need reform to cater to a safe and more resilient earth in light of climate change.

The prime minister refers to farming and waste management practices which she maintained must change in order to control the level of methane that the world is seeing.

Emphasizing her argument she said, “ the science is simple, to turn down the heat, you simply have to turn down the methane, and until we accept that, we will go over a tipping point.”

Tying the issue of capital into her argument, Mottley, expressed that she has exhausted the point that long term capital is needed to stop the world leaders from choosing between people and planet. Regarding this, the attitude towards access to capital must change, she also said.

Calling attention to the Bridgetown Initiative and the Paris Plan for action, she said they all outline that the issues of methane and capital are “tipping points” that the world needs to pass.

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer 

December 10, 2023 – Multiple earthquakes were felt last weekend, Friday night into Saturday, a cause for concern among citizens.

Recorded near Guadeloupe, Antigua and Barbuda and Monsterrat, was a 6.0 magnitude at around 4:48 am at a depth of 16 kilometers (km).

The University of the West Indies, Seismic Research Centre’s (UWI-SRC) Automatic Earthquake Location informed that it struck Point-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe at 71 km north-east, Saint John’s Antigua and Barbuda at 89 km south-east and Brades, Montserrat at 120 km east.

After this, another tremor with a magnitude of 4.4 was recorded northeast of Guadeloupe, southeast of Antigua and east of Montserrat at around 6:29 am local time, with a depth of 10 km.

The Automatic Earthquake Location says for Point-à-Porte it was 76 km northeast, Saint John’s, 91 km south-east and Brades 123 km east.

On Friday, several earthquakes were recorded in the same chain of islands, reports say.

At 10:31 pm, a magnitude 4.3 hit in the same area with a depth of 7.7 km.

Then, a 4.4 magnitude was picked up with a depth of 34.8 km at around 11 pm local time; Pointe-à-Pitre, 120 km northeast, Saint John’s 131km east-south-east and Brades, 164 km east.

Not even 2 minutes after, a 3.6 magnitude occurred at 11:01 pm with a 5 km depth and shortly after another at 11:13 pm, with a 3.8 magnitude at a depth of 10 km; 115 km of Pointe-à- Pitre, north-east, 138 km, east-south-east of Saint John’s and 173 km east of Brades.

St Kitts and Nevis was also affected as a 3.8 magnitude struck near the islands as well as Antigua and Barbuda dams Montserrat at about 8:17 pm, a depth of 80.6 km.

As informed by the Automatic Earthquake Location from the UWI SRC, it is 70 km north of Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis, 133 km northwest of Saint John’s Antigua and Barbuda and 134 km northwest of Brades, Monsterrat.

Despite the multiple tremors felt, no injuries or damages were reported.

Responding to concerned citizens, the UWI SRC in a statement said, “please note that our region is a seismically active one and we can feel events in a short period of time. This is why we always urge persons to plan, prepare and practice for any earthquake event.”

Just about a month ago, Jamaica was struck by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake, one the strongest it has felt in about 30 years, leaving many shaken up.

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, December 10, 2023 – As one of the largest irregular settlements in the Turks and Caicos, Dock Yard is dangerous not because of the people who live there, but because of the state of the community.

“Dock Yard is the textbook example of an informal settlement it reflects everything that the United Nations has identified as a danger; the density the inability to access, utilities, the inability to dispose of waste,” Carlos Simons, Head of the Informal Settlement Unit (ISU) told media during a November 27 briefing.

It is the ISU’s mandate to fix this.

While acknowledging that there were legal residents in the settlement, Simons said that it was very likely there would be individuals found living there without status; as for what the Unit is legally required to do in these instances, the KC attorney at law explained this:

“These persons will be referred to the Immigration Department to be dealt with in accordance with immigration laws. The objective of this exercise is not to expose illegal immigrants but to regularize the settlement of communities in the TCI.”

He stressed though that the majority of people who live in Dock Yard are ‘law-abiding, church-going, loyal residents.’

“We are not approaching the Dock Yard problem without bearing that in mind.”

And Carlos Simons would know, as a former Supreme Court Justice, he was specially selected to carry out this massive mandate for the Turks and Caicos Islands, which as it stands, is the only British Overseas Territory with the problem of squatting.

Simons, in managing misconceptions about the role and work of the newly formed ISU, described the majority of residents in the Dock Yard community in Kew Town, Providenciales as law-abiding residents who work and send their children to school; these are values that the Government wants to keep, but there are significant and well-placed concerns which threaten a healthy and peaceful existence in the area. Most of the country’s murders for the past two years have happened in Kew Town and Dock Yard has been at the center of it all.

“The threats of criminals hiding amongst them, the threat of an outbreak of disease, difficulties, disposing, waste, and so forth. The congestion does not allow for emergency services access. It’s just unsafe,” the ISU Head stressed.

The removal of illegal structures in the settlement has been paused; the original removal was set for December 8.  However, according to a notice from the ISU on November 21st, any demolition will now take place beginning on January 8, 2024.