Trinidad & Tobago: Smoke in the City  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The work week in Trinidad began on a dark note – literally.  On Monday January 27, the atmosphere was thick with haze, the sky a sombre grey as people commuted to work and parents dropped their children off to school.    At first, many couldn't pinpoint the cause – wasn't it too early in the year to be experiencing the effects of Saharan dust? – but soon, news spread that the source of the smog was coming from the La Basse, the capital's main landfill site, located next to one of the most disadvantaged communities in the country.
As usual, Facebook was the go-to site for information; users posted updates and thoughts as information came in.  It is suspected that several fires were started in the waste dump, allegedly by Beetham residents, in protest over the shooting of a resident by police the day before.  As the smog grew thicker, some schools in the area were closed, but officials from the Environmental Management Authority and the Trinidad and Tobago Solid Waste Management Company, which oversees the dump, have been working with the fire services to get the situation under control.
A mid-morning rainfall on Monday improved the situation slightly, but as of earlier today, firemen were still trying to contain two lingering fires that were blazing underneath mounds of rubbish.  Several early morning Facebook status updates spoke to the situation.  Catherine Emmanuel quipped:
Mmm…landfill smoke with my morning tea. Yes please.
Gareth Jenkins added:
This city stinks. Kids shouldn't have to go to school in a shroud of burning garbage.
Photographs soon followed.  Facebook user Iain Waller uploaded a pic of Port of Spain taken from the highway that passes in front of the dump and accompanied it with this sardonic question:
China?!?
C News Live posted a photo set that showed the effects of the heavy smoke in the capital:
Mark Franco posted a photo taken from a balcony on the outskirts of town, noting that “Port of Spain [was] shrouded again”:
There was also a lot of discussion on Twitter.  Kerwyn Forde noted:
"BREAKING: The EMA says the particles in the air at the beetham landfill is 13 times the limit of the air pollution rules. @CNC3TV"
— Kerwyn Forde (@Senator_Forde) January 29, 2014
@CNC3TV posted regular updates:
NEWS: SWMCOL says no new fires but the high smoke volume is due to high winds.
— CNC3TV (@CNC3TV) January 29, 2014
Latest EMA tests reveal that the air quality has returned to normalcy within the Port of Spain area.
— CNC3TV (@CNC3TV) January 29, 2014
EMA says " high ambient air quality levels are documented only at the Beetham at this time. "
— CNC3TV (@CNC3TV) January 29, 2014
Kalifa Sarah Clyne observed:
I might be the only person in pos with a face mask on. #toxicsmoke #Trinidad http://t.co/e6PzkGu6vF
— Kalifa Sarah Clyne (@kalifasclyne) January 29, 2014
@triniqt2 complained:
My lungs are burning from the #pollutuion of POS #Trinidad with smoke from the #Beetham dump!
— Simi (@triniqt2) January 29, 2014
@PLatchman felt sorry for the children who are being affected:
What a shame. MT @UKinTT: RT @Lordrich6: Schools in PoS suspending classes #SmokeInTheCity #trinidad
— Pradeep (@PLatchman) January 29, 2014
In typical Trinidadian style, @KetchAVapse used humour to deal with the situation:
Lewwe have a smog fete!! Complimentary respirator and mardi gras beads upon entry! #Trinidad
— Je Suis Lakshmi (@KetchAVapse) January 29, 2014
If the smog persists for much longer, chances are that netizens will be less inclined to joke about it.  It is now being reported that the Environmental Management Authority has allegedly asked the dump's management company to close the site until further notice.