my $dbh;
eval {
   $dbh = DBI->connect("dbi:SQLite:dbname=request_db","","", {RaiseErr
+or => 1});
   $dbh->do($createTableSQL);
};
if ($@) {
   # handle error here
   # the error will be in the $@ variable
   # the error raised could be from the connect or the do methods
}