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Last Updated: Mar 12th, 2009 - 09:36:33 |
Tortola, BVI, March 03, 2009 (DDM) – At a press conference held this afternoon, Deputy Director of the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) Zebalon McLean announced the Territory's annual simulation exercise will take place on April 02. The 2009 North Atlantic Tsunami Exercise (LANTEX) will test the Territory’s response mechanism to the threat of a tsunami caused by a major earthquake. It is being conducted to assist earthquake and tsunami preparedness efforts along the United States and Canadian east coasts, the Gulf of Mexico, as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The pseudo earthquake will measure 8.6 in magnitude off the northern coast of Puerto Rico that generates a destructive tsunami in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with projected tsunami amplitudes of over five metres. The earthquake will occur in the morning of Thursday, April 2, 2009. The exercise provides an opportunity for emergency management organisations along the Atlantic coast, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to exercise our operational lines of communications, review earthquake/tsunami response procedures, and promote tsunami preparedness. Referencing the December 26 tsunami of 2004, McLean said, "Many factors were present to explain why we did not share the misfortune of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. However, there are just as many existing factors that could result in us experiencing a tsunami right here at home, as we are located in the most active seismic zone in the Caribbean. This fact is reiterated in the constant information, reports and findings that are made available to us by our partners at the Puerto Rico Seismic Network (PRSN) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS)."
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| At a press conference on Tuesday, March 3, Deputy Director of the Department of Disaster Management, Zebalon McLean announced the Territory will participate in an earthquake and tsunami simulation exercise on April 02. |
Participating in the press conference via telephone, Director of PRSN, Christa Von Hillebrandt-Andrade explained why the threat of a tsunami is real for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. "Within our region, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands definitely, is one of the most active areas just north of the British Virgin Islands it’s an area known as the Sombrero Seismic Zone and it has quite a random seismicity and is a recent focus of study for scientists. The Virgin Islands lie right in the corner of the Caribbean plate, which is being sub-ducted by the North American plate. All sorts of faults arise because of this interaction producing this seismicity."
In preparation for the exercise the Department is embarking on a public information campaign to educate the community on the threat of earthquakes and tsunamis. The month long campaign will feature presentations on various radio and television shows as well as dissemination of literature to a cross section of groups in the Territory.
DDM was able to secure funding for the public information campaign through the Earthquake Readiness Capacity Building Project that is funded by the Austrian Government and managed by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA). The project will develop the region’s capacity for earthquake management and will complement ongoing and planned disaster loss reduction capacity building efforts in CDERA’s member states. It will also facilitate national programming to harness interventions, and promote collaboration amongst partners, for enhanced earthquake contingency planning. The Virgin Islands is the first state covered by the project to exercise national plans for earthquake response. It is intended that lessons learned from the exercise and the public information campaign will be shared with the other 15 CDERA member states.
Contact:
Natasha Lettsome, Information & Training Manager
Department of Disaster Management
#3 Wailing Road MacNamara
Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Phone: 284-468-4200
Fax: 284-494-2024
E-Mail: bviddm@surfbvi.com, NLettsome@gov.vg
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