The Readiness of the Trinidad and Tobago Cadastral System for Recovery from Disaster
Charisse Griffith-Charles
Cadastral records in developed countries are usually held centrally or regionally in a digital database that is archived offsite. This ensures that the records are recoverable in the event of an impact on the repository. In many low-income and developing countries, however, cadastral records are not of a standardised format but evidence of legal tenure can be gleaned from records held at various locations. Evidence of legitimate tenure can be held locally or at the household level, without duplicates. The formal cadastral records in Trinidad and Tobago have suffered loss on previous occasions and therefore an assessment of possible risks was done and a post-disaster Business Continuity Plan (BCP) model was developed. In addition, because much of the evidence of land rights is informally held, this evidence was also part of the assessment of disaster impact and part of the larger business continuity model. An assessment was performed to determine where cadastral records exist and where they could be recovered from if a disaster were to arise. It was found that action on the part of various stakeholders can be taken now to avert the eventual magnification of the disaster that will result if the records were to be destroyed. A well-documented plan to deal with different emergency scenarios must also be prepared and disseminated so that all stakeholders would be aware of the procedures for preserving land tenure to be followed in a disaster in this country. Recording of oral, and other informal evidence is strongly recommended for the country using existing tools such as STDM or Open Tenure software.
Event: FIG Working Week 2016 : Recovery from Disaster
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