Members of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), the local hydromet office and related agencies are set to participate in the Caribbean region’s first full-scale tsunami warning exercise, as part of United Nations-backed effort to test and strengthen the region’s defences against such calamities.
The exercise, Caribe Wave 11, is scheduled for Wednesday and 33 countries will participate.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said yesterday that the exercise will be useful in testing and sharpening long-term disaster response and management, especially in dealing with a region-wide response.
A UNESCO release said that the exercise aims to test the early warning system for tsunamis and other coastal hazards set up in the region in 2005 by the Intergovern-mental Oceanographic Com-mission (IOC) established under the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The exercise will proceed on a fictional earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale and located off the coast of the United States Virgin Islands, the UNESCO stated.
It is expected to highlight the effectiveness of tsunami warning mechanisms, weather forecast offices, national coast guards and other relevant offices.
Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, said last week’s catastrophic quake and tsunami in Japan “have clearly shown the crucial importance of emergency arrangements.
The development of a coordinated system in the Caribbean appears in this context to be more pertinent than ever.”
At least 75 tsunamis have been recorded in the past 500 years, with more than 3,500 deaths attributed to them, the release said.
The other countries participating are: Aruba, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, France (Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Martin, Guyane), Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Netherlands (Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Curacao and Saint Marteen), Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom (Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos), the United States and Venezuela.
