Local authorities work with coastal communities to boost preparedness

By Shamar Blunt 

A programme is in the works to prepare residents of some of the island’s coastal areas to respond in the event of a tsunami. 

Coastal Planner from the Coastal Zone Management Unit, Fabian Hinds announced on Wednesday that the local Technical Standing Committee on Coastal Zone Hazards is in the advanced stages of creating the Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme. 

He said his unit and the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), co-chairs of the committee, have been working on this in collaboration with the relevant District Emergency Organisations, the communities within the areas seeking tsunami ready recognition, and the Caribbean Tsunami Information Centre.

“This Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme ultimately seeks to develop and enhance the preparedness and response capabilities of coastal communities to the potential threat of tsunamis. This is important because we know that when a tsunami arrives, and communities are ready to respond, lives are saved,” he said at the launch for Coastal Hazards and Earthquake Smart Month 2023, held under the theme All Aboard with Coastal Resilience, at the Folkestone Park, and Marine Reserve, Holetown, St James.

Hinds told attendees, who included representatives from the Barbados Fire Service, the Marine Police section of the Barbados Police Service, the Barbados Meteorological Services, the Barbados Defence Force and the DEM, that a similar pilot project had started in 2011 and some areas have already been certified as being tsunami ready.

“In 2020, the Sherman’s, St Lucy to Mullins, St Peter area received official recognition of being tsunami ready. This was a first for Barbados,” he pointed out.

Plans are underway for St James Central and Christ Church West to receive a similar designation. 

Meanwhile, Deputy Director of the Barbados Meteorological Services (BMS) Brian Murray said that his entity is in the process of updating and refining its multi-hazard early warning systems to better prepare the island for any natural disasters.

“These early warning systems include the use of equipment such as the doppler radar, automatic weather stations, satellite imagery, numerical weather models and so on,” Murray said.

“We do not only focus on weather conditions in the sky but also from the marine aspect. The BMS has in their possession early warning systems for tsunamis and other hydrometeorological hazards, and these include alerts from the Pacific Warning Centre and the UWI Seismic Research Centre,” he explained. (SB)