Tsunami Hazards
More than forty nations and
territories, both islands and along the coast, could suffer damage from the
possibility of dangerous tsunamis from the Caribbean region's subduction zones. Haitian-style strike-slip earthquakes can
trigger submarine landslides, and the 2010 earthquake in caused a local tsunami
with further fatalities on the island's south shore. There have been twenty-seven tsunamis in the
region since the 16th century. Half of the total deaths, -sixteen hundred
people dead- are from a tsunami/earthquake in 1946 in the Dominican Republic/Haiti.
The short distance between coastal cities/earthquake epicenters as well as historical
lack of seismic monitoring stations and a coordinated response leaves little
time for disseminating warnings.
Planning for Caribbean Tsunamis
“In March 2011, thirty-two countries
participated in the Caribbean's first full-scale tsunami warning exercise. The
test was based on a fictional earthquake measuring magnitude 7.6, located off
the coast of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The National Weather Service touts the
TsunamiReady program, a public education and government preparation plan that
includes beach signage and local outreach for Caribbean Islands. Currently, tsunami
warnings come from Alaska or Hawaii, but the United States and international
partners in the region are moving toward completing a local warning system
based in Puerto Rico by 2014, funded by the United States with a Caribbean
tsunami information center in Barbados.” Two minutes can make the difference
between life and death in an evacuation and by having a warning center in the
Caribbean, we will be able to research the sources of the tsunamis, analyze information
faster to create products that are culturally/socially useful for decision
makers.
Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade, Annual
Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in an interview with Our Amazing
Planet
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| Stephanie Burke |
The Caribbean islands are in a dangerous area for tsunamis. It is unfortunate that not only is there very little coordination in evacuation plans, but also the damage can be extreme due to construction that is not designed to withstand a tsunami. It would be surprising to see how many extra fatalities are caused by building collapse as well as flooding.
ReplyDeleteI was not aware they were moving the local warning center to Puerto Rico. It makes total sense. Even a few seconds can save lives!
ReplyDeleteWow. Not only is Haiti near three plates, increasing the probability of a tsunami occurring, it is also a very small island making it difficult for people to go far inland. I'm not too sure of the topography but hopefully there are some high places for people to fall back to. A few countries in Europe also did the same thing testing out an alert system, but in this one there were four different simulations of actual tsunamis that occurred throughout history. It is a very good way to test such systems because every second can be used to evacuate and head to safe areas.
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ReplyDeleteAnTonia VaughnMarch 18, 2015 at 9:04 AM
The Caribbean Tsunami warning center is up and running in Puerto Rico thanks to the National Weather Service. The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission has a "A Caribbean and Northwestern Atlantic Warning Exercise" dated March 2015 and A Readiness Webinar Presentation on the Caribbean Tsunami Warning Center's website. Three-fourths of the island is above seven hundred feet and Pic la Selle, part of the Chain de la Selle mountain range, is the highest point at 2,680 m (8,793 ft)! which could prove useful in moving to higher ground (as well as altitude sickness). I am worried about the entire Gonaive Microplate as well as the height of a Tsunami created by any Pacific/North American plate action.