??
(FP)

Barbados will be participating in a national exercise as part of Caribe Wave 2013 which is scheduled for March.

The country’s involvement will include a table top exercise as well as a community-based one designed to test respectively the emergency??services and the community levels of preparedness for the likely impact of a tsunami.

Co-Chair of the Technical Standing Committee on Coastal Hazards (TSCCH), Kerry Hinds, said the parish of St. John would be involved in the community exercise which would also see residents, businesses and schools in the district being senitised about the tsunami hazard.

Ms. Hinds, also Deputy Director of the Department of Emergency Management, made these disclosures during a recent meeting of the St. John Community Disaster Response Team (CDRT) at the Martin’s Bay Wesleyan Holiness Church.

She explained that Barbados had joined with other countries to look at the tsunami hazard which posed a risk to the country, particularly those living in coastal communities.

In speaking to the members of the CDRT and the St. John District Emergency Organisation (DEO), the TSCCH Chair explained that the St. John exercise would be done at the community level as it was necessary for everyone to be prepared. "St. John will show the country what measures are needed to be prepared," she said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the St. John DEO, John Haynes, told those present that they would play an active role in the exercise as they would be the ones responsible for getting assistance to persons.

He added that as part of the preparations for the exercise the list of the physically challenged and the elderly in the area would be updated and the necessary radio checks undertaken and training provided.

Following the meeting those involved in the exercise conducted a walk-through of the Glenburnie and Martin’s Bay areas.

Caribe Wave is conducted every two years to assist tsunami preparedness efforts throughout the Caribbean and adjacent regions, including the United States, the Canadian east coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and Bermuda. It’s goal is also to raise the level of awareness among countries especially after the events of the 2004 Indian Ocean, 2009 Samoa, 2010 Haiti and Chile, and 2011 Japan earthquakes and tsunamis.

The exercise is being conducted by the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (ICG/CARIBE EWS) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nationals Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, NULL, NULL, 0); along with the US National Weather Service and the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program.

julia.rawlins-bentham@barbados.gov.bb

Pin It on Pinterest