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On Saturday, Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HCMI) and the Cayman Islands Red Cross successfully completed day one of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training for community volunteers at the South Sound Community Centre.

The training, which covers various aspects of disaster preparedness, disaster management, risk assessment, team deployment, stress management and radio communication, continues again today (August 21) from 8:30am to 5:00pm.

Disaster preparedness

In relation to the training for disaster preparedness, Teresita DaSilva, Preparedness and Planning Manager for HCMI and Eddie Sepp Tinling-Miller, Head of Disaster Preparation of the Cayman Islands Red Cross, taught CERT volunteers about the structure of community emergency response teams, their roles and responsibilities and how they will be tasked with coordinating their teams with national agencies before, during and after a disaster event. An example of this structure, which includes team members assigned to medical, communication and search & rescue roles, is set out below (this structure is not set in stone and may vary by community).

Deployment

Once a community emergency response team is activated by the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) to respond to a disaster event, the relevant community emergency response team will meet at a pre-arranged location (a shelter, community centre or park), assuming that the designated area is out of harm’s way and it is a place that the team can be safe (team members must be kept safe in order to be ready to offer help to others following a disaster). Before arriving or upon arrival at the meeting place, the community emergency response team leader and HCMI will share information with team members about the extent of the damage to the community. Once the task before them.is properly assessed, community emergency response team members will be deployed to various locations depending on assigned tasks.

Stress management

During and after deployment, as noted by the HCMI and Red Cross trainers, team members must take note of their own stress levels. They must also appreciate that many community members that require the team’s assistance may have also experienced emotional and mental stress as a result of the disaster event. This assessment can impact who is deployed by the team leader to specific disaster sites or to deal with specific categories of persons following the disaster event.

In explaining the importance of this, Mr Sepp Tinling-Miller, Head of Disaster Preparation of the Cayman Islands Red Cross, explained his personal experience as a police officer previously. He described how he was the first officer on the scene of an accident, where the shock and stress of the event impacted him so greatly that he did not function in the same way that he would have had he not been first on the scene and had sight of the accident.

When community emergency response team members, first responders and others understand the depth of this type of scenario, they will be better prepared to determine the appropriate approach to, and method of communication with, disaster victims, with the ultimate goal of keeping everyone physically and psychologically safe. If not handled correctly, the wrong approach could lead to unproductive or unwanted outcomes in the middle of a national emergency.

Radio communication

In relation to communication, the volunteers learned about the use of Whatsapp, a national disaster app and how to use radios or “walkie-talkies” to keep in touch with each other, the HCMI team and first responders in the event that phone lines go down post-disaster. A sample role play was also done with trainees by Leslie Vernon, Manager for Logistics and Operations at HCMI, who taught trainees about radio etiquette and important rules to be followed while using radios.

Leslie (Lennox) Vernon, Manager for Logistics and Operations at HCMI

Looking forward to Sunday’s training

As a result of this course being offered by the HCMI and Red Cross teams, by the end of today (Sunday), volunteers will have acquired sufficient planning, team coordination, risk management and risk assessment skills to enable them to competently fulfill roles as members of community emergency response teams, to be deployed by authorities (or self-deployed) in the advent of a disaster.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission last week charged 18 individuals and entities for their roles in a fraudulent scheme in which dozens of online retail brokerage accounts were hacked and improperly used to purchase microcap stocks to manipulate the price and trading volume of those stocks. Those charged include Rahim Mohamed of Alberta, Canada, who is alleged to have coordinated the hacking attacks, and several others in and outside the U.S. who allegedly benefited from or participated in the scheme.

According to the SEC’s complaint, in late 2017 and early 2018, hackers accessed at least 31 U.S. retail brokerage accounts and used them to purchase the securities of Lotus Bio-Technology Development Corp. and Good Gaming, Inc. The unauthorized purchases allegedly enabled fraudsters, who already controlled large blocks of Lotus Bio-Tech and Good Gaming stock, to sell their holdings at artificially high prices and reap more than $1 million in illicit proceeds. According to the complaint, Davies Wong of British Columbia, Canada, and Glenn B. Laken of Illinois, respectively, controlled the majority of the Lotus Bio-Tech and Good Gaming stock that was sold while the hacking attacks were being carried out, and Mohamed coordinated with Wong, Laken, and others to orchestrate the attacks. The complaint also alleges that Richard Tang of British Columbia, Canada, was involved with both the Lotus Bio-Tech and Good Gaming schemes.

“This case illustrates the critical importance of cybersecurity and of our ongoing efforts to protect retail investors from cyber fraud,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “The SEC remains committed to rooting out this type of wrongdoing. Investors should also take precautions, including choosing strong passwords, using different passwords for different accounts, and using two-factor authentication when available.”

“Our complaint details a brazen and sophisticated scheme, with hackers using international accounts and dummy accountholders to hide their tracks,” said Nekia Hackworth Jones, Director of the SEC’s Atlanta Regional Office. “As this case demonstrates, the Division can uncover misconduct even when it crosses borders and is concealed behind multiple layers of obfuscation.”

The SEC’s complaint charges violations of the antifraud and beneficial ownership reporting provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and names two relief defendants who received proceeds from the hacks. The SEC seeks the return of ill-gotten gains plus interest, penalties, bars, and other equitable relief. The SEC’s investigation is continuing.

The SEC’s investigation has been conducted by Joshua Dickman and Lucy Graetz of the Atlanta Regional Office, Andrew McFall of the Washington, D.C. Office, and Patrick McCluskey of the Philadelphia Regional Office, with the assistance of Marlee Miller and Owen Granke of the SEC’s Office of International Affairs. The case is being supervised by Acting Chief of the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit Carolyn Welshhans, Market Abuse Unit Chief Joseph Sansone, Justin Jeffries and Natalie Brunson of the Atlanta Regional Office, and Amy Flaherty Hartman of the Chicago Regional Office. Robert Gordon and William Hicks of the Atlanta Regional Office will lead the SEC’s litigation, supervised by M. Graham Loomis.

The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Alberta Securities Commission, the Australia Securities and Investments Commission, the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Calgary Police Service, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, the Dubai Financial Services Authority, the French Autorit? des March?s Financiers, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the Mauritius Financial Services Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission, the Quebec Autorit? des March?s Financiers, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, the S?ret? du Qu?bec, the Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores de la Rep?blica Dominicana, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, and the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority.

To learn more about how to protect your online investment accounts from fraud, please visit the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy investor alerts webpage.

(Source: SEC)

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Absorbent booms at the entrance of drain number nine which were placed to prevent the contaminant from entering the Caroni Swamp on August 11. – Jeff K. Mayers

The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) says recommendations to prevent a recurrence of a recent spill of a yet-to-be identified substance which seeped into the waterways of the protected Caroni Bird Sanctuary is among proactive measures to be taken.

On Friday, incident commander Steve Lalbeharry, accompanied by Forestry Division officers, took the media on a guided tour of the sanctuary to show that there were no residual signs of the contaminant which was first discovered on August 11, in a drain at the sanctuary’s public carpark, near the Uriah Butler Highway.

Lalbeharry identified three potential sources of the leakage of the substance – at the carpark, Frederick Settlement Industrial Estate and the intersection of the skimming drain along channel nine.

The EMA, along with the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA), the Forestry Division, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) and other agencies have been on the ground mopping up any residual substance and contaminated grass and other debris since August 11. The following day, dead fish were observed along channel nine likely as a result of the contaminant.

Navin Kalpoo captains the boat while making pineapple chow during a tour of the Caroni Swamp with the EMA on August 19. – Jeff K. Mayers

About three barrels of oily, black substance were suctioned from the carpark drain and other absorbent pads were used to extract the substance from the surface of the water. Three absorbent booms were also placed at the entrance to channel nine to block the flow of the substance and they were still in place on Friday.

Lalbeharry said the EMA is awaiting the analysis of the substance recovered and the investigations are continuing. Anyone found culpable of dumping contaminants, especially in a protected wildlife area, can face substantial fines under the amended legislation.

The Caroni Bird Sanctuary lies west of the Uriah Butler Highway and the 8,300 hectares of wetland is the home of one of the national birds, the scarlet ibis, pink flamingoes, a variety of fresh water fish, snakes, including anacondas, caimans, and numerous others species of animals.

Thousands of eco-tourists visit annually, both locally and internationally, for the guided boat tours along the scenic eight-kilometre north/south channel of the Blue River which leads to the Gulf of Paria. Mangrove trees line the river and branches form a canopy overhead with the odd rainbow boa constrictor adding to the adventurous journey.

Boat tour operators now offer both breakfast and diner tours which patrons can witness flocks of scarlet ibis either leaving the sanctuary in the morning or returning to roost at twilight.

During the tour there was no visible signs to the human eyes or scent of hydrocarbons after the boat left the visitor’s docking station. Apart from a handful of discarded plastic bottles and coffee bottles there was no commercial debris trapped in the mangrove roots. Several trees had fallen into the canal and the captain, Navin Kalpoo, had to switch off the engine and manoeuvre the vessel safely across.

Chaguanas West MP Dinesh Rambally, who was on site on August 11, in a letter to the EMA, the IMA and the ODPM on August 19, called for greater monitoring of the sanctuary and a quicker response to potential environmental dangers.

“Any large-scale dumping of oil will severely damage the quality of soil and water such that large tracts of the bird sanctuary will become uninhabitable and its critical ecosystems destroyed. I cannot emphasise enough that our survival cannot be delinked from the ecosystems and natural environment in which we live.”

” The Caroni Swamp is so ecologically diverse with its particular collection of fish, insect, other organisms and plant species. It is absolutely unique. As such it is protected by the Ramsar Convention. Loss of, or damage to, this particular environment would mean the loss of things that exist nowhere else and that can never be replaced.

The mangrove forests and wetlands provide nurseries and shelters for fisheries, habitat for a variety of domestic wildlife and migratory birds. They are a source of food for organisms of the lower part of the food chain. Their roots also play an important role in the mineral cycle that is necessary for maintaining the productivity exhibited by the mangrove communities.”

Rambally said oil contaminants can be taken up by plant roots, causing damage to the plants over time and affect animals and humans in the long run.

Steve Lalbeharry, incident commander of the EMA speak to the media during a tour of the Caroni Swamp on August 19. – Jeff K. Mayers

While he commended the EMA and the other agencies for its efforts to clean up the oily substance on August 11, he believed the response was too slow as the scent was first detected by tour operators late August 10 to early August 11, and the vacuum truck began operation around 6.30 pm on August 11.

“My intention in raising this is not to point fingers at any entity but simply to ensure whether we can establish, for the purposes of investigation, whether there was a time lag in relaying information between Forestry Division and the EMA and/or whether there was a time lag in responding to this environmental disaster.”

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