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Last Updated: Jul 9th, 2007 - 10:49:25 |
Over forty participants from more than twenty countries in the Caribbean and Latin American region convened on the St. Augustine campus of The University of the West Indies for a six-day Caribbean Training Course in Seismology and Tsunami Warnings from June 25-30th. Hosted by the UWI’s Seismic Research Unit, the Course was part of an ongoing regional effort to establish a tsunami warning system for the Caribbean and Adjacent areas. It provided participants with an understanding of the science behind tsunami warnings and exposed them to operational best-practices of warning centres.
The Caribbean continues to be vulnerable to natural disasters such as tsunamis and major earthquakes and “As the regional centre of research, the UWI (therefore) has an obligation to improve regional capacity.” This, according to the UWI, St. Augustine Campus Principal, Dr. Bhoendradatt Tewarie. Dr. Tewarie’s statement was part of the welcome remarks delivered by the Prinicpal during the Opening Ceremony for the Course.
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| Enrique Arango Arias of Cuba and Julio Roman |
“There is no doubt that this region must adopt pro-active programmes to minimize the damage that tsunamis and other coastal hazards can cause. The first steps that must be undertaken are those that this workshop is adopting, viz., improved co-operation and the implementation of regional and international initiatives to increase their ability to respond to such events,” said Tewarie.
Coming from varying backgrounds of emergency planning, meteorology, and seismology, Course participants engaged in wide ranging discussions on tsunamis as well as other hazards and discussed how best to develop a tsunami early warning system that enhanced mitigation against such hazards. At the close of the Course, participants provided recommendations which included the need for a commitment by “…National Governments to ensure that Tsunami Preparedness becomes a more significant part of their multi-hazard early warning and mitigation system as well as encourage the establishment of National Early Warning System Committees inclusive of their Tsunami Warning Focal Point and Tsunami National Contact…” as guided by the International Oceanographic Commission.
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| Instrumentation Engineer at the Seismic Research Unit, |
Participants also recognized “…that the region already has early warning systems for more slow-onset events, and that these systems could be expanded to incorporate the fast-developing tsunamis and other coastal hazards.” They also called for the organization and implementation of “…public education, preparedness and sensitization activities for vulnerable communities,” and for support of “…the development of scientifically-sound products and tools to carry out these activities.”
Running concurrently with the Seismology & Tsunami Warnings Training Course was a training programme for seismic technicians in the use of EARTHWORM, a seismic data processing package used in managing real-time seismic data streams.
The Seismology & Tsunami Warnings Training Course was developed in collaboration with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Puerto Rico Seismic Network (PRSN), and the UNESCO IOC International Tsunami Information Center (ITIC). This was one of several activities being coordinated by the Seismic Research Unit towards the establishment of a Caribbean tsunami warning system, a major component of which is a significant upgrade of the SRU’s seismic monitoring network made possible through a US$249,680 grant from the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA).
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| Head of the Seismic Research Unit, Dr. Richard |
Funding for the Course was provided primarily by the USAID/OFDA with additional financial support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UWI Centre for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction.
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