Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes says now is not to time to as­cribe blame for the flood­ing that has tak­en place but a time to come to­geth­er and help those af­fect­ed by it.

How­ev­er, when things are rec­ti­fied Weekes said cit­i­zens need to do every­thing hu­man­ly pos­si­ble to en­sure that we do not have a re­peat of the "cat­a­stroph­ic events and the chaos re­cent­ly ex­pe­ri­enced."

Weekes made the state­ment in a press re­lease is­sued yes­ter­day of the dev­as­ta­tion caused by flood­ing over the week­end and the emer­gency re­sponse and re­lief ef­forts since then.

The Pres­i­dent said she "looked on with mount­ing hor­ror and grave con­cern at the im­me­di­ate and af­ter-ef­fects of last week's del­uge."

"Whether caused by an act of God, omis­sions or com­mis­sions of in­sti­tu­tions or in­di­vid­u­als, or any com­bi­na­tion there­of, this is not the time to as­cribe blame," Weekes said.

"It is the time for us all to come to­geth­er as a na­tion to ren­der what­ev­er as­sis­tance we can to those in such des­per­ate need. Many of our in­di­vid­ual and cor­po­rate cit­i­zens have led the way in ex­tra­or­di­nary demon­stra­tions of brav­ery, com­pas­sion and gen­eros­i­ty. We thank and com­mend them and let us all fol­low suit to what­ev­er ex­tent we are able."

Weekes said the self­less­ness dis­played by cit­i­zens is al­so a cause for hope.

"We are al­so grate­ful for the ef­forts of the pro­tec­tive ser­vices, the re­gion­al cor­po­ra­tions,

dis­as­ter man­age­ment or­gan­i­sa­tions, NGOs and all who self­less­ly gave ser­vice. Just when many were de­spair­ing of the na­tion­al ethos, we have seen cause for hope. Trinidad is a re­al place," Weekes stat­ed.

She al­so ex­tend­ed sym­pa­thy to all those who have suf­fered trau­ma and loss.

"To those who have suf­fered trau­ma and loss, some of whom are staff of the Of­fice of the Pres­i­dent, we ex­tend our heart­felt sym­pa­thy. As dire as things are, know that we are all hop­ing, work­ing and pray­ing to bring what­ev­er re­lief we can in the short­est pos­si­ble time," Weekes said.

"When the im­me­di­ate con­cerns have been treat­ed with, let us as in­di­vid­u­als and or­gan­i­sa­tions re-ex­am­ine our prac­tices and process­es and put in place both pre­ven­tive and re­me­di­al steps to en­sure that all hu­man­ly pos­si­ble is done to avoid a re­peat of the cat­a­stroph­ic events and the chaos re­cent­ly ex­pe­ri­enced."

Weekes added, "Trinidad and To­ba­go is pos­sessed of the heart, the knowl­edge and the ex­per­tise to get this right. Let us en­sure that it hap­pens. And may God bless our na­tion."