PORT OF SPAIN – Muslims in Trinidad have rushed to offer a much-needed help to their neighbors after floods displaced thousands of people this weekend, Trinidad Express reported.
“We have sent relief supplies to Mayaro; plus 50 hampers water, clothes, cleaning supplies on its way to Barakah grounds now,” San Fernando Jama Masjid wrote on Facebook.
“Also delivered to San Fernando City Disaster Management Unit – supplies for their redistribution to nearby shelters and corporations in need,” they added.
Floods hit north and central Trinidad on Saturday. The meteorological service attributed the situation to an active Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) which produced periods of rain/showers and thunderstorm activity.
On Sunday the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPM) said that the adverse weather situation will continue throughout the day and urged motorists to seek alternative routes where possible and be extremely vigilant of rising flood waters.
The rainfall that caused a historic level of flooding in parts of north and central Trinidad largely spared the south part of the island.
To help those in need, the San Fernando JAMA Masjid said they would be welcoming citizens to drop off any relief items at its mosque located at #68 Mucurapo Street, San Fernando.
The items will be sorted and delivered to the relevant relief agencies to assist flood victims.
“Someone is at the Masjid receiving goods. Please leave your donations on the table downstairs if you don’t see him. It will be secured,” the mosque wrote on Facebook.
Muslims constitute 5 percent of the population on Trinidad and Tobago, representing 102,421 individuals.
The first Muslims to arrive in the country arrived from Africa brought as slaves by the colonists.
The second group arrived in 1816 as a small proportion of those of the Corps of Colonial Marines who were African-born and had been recruited in 1815 in Georgia during the War of 1812, mostly settled in Fifth and Sixth Companies within the Company Villages near Princes Town.