Earth Today| ‘Venezuela earthquake a warning to Jamaica’

TUESDAY'S 7.3-magnitude earthquake that rocked Venezuela and which was also felt in Trinidad, Grenada and Barbados is a wake-up call for Jamaica and the Caribbean.

"The earthquake is another reminder of the need for Caribbean states to develop resilience in order to cope with all credible extreme events, including seismic and climatic extremes. Early reports from (the islands) indicate that strong to moderate shaking occurred, and that many members of the public, as well as institutions, such as radio stations, were caught unprepared by the strength and duration of the shaking," said disaster risk management expert Franklyn McDonald.

"It should be noted that Trinidad and Tobago, like Jamaica, is considered by many experts to be in a 'seismicity gap', that is, an area where a large earthquake can be reasonably expected at any time. Tuesday's event should cause members of the public, civil society groups, the private sector, and the Government to review their responses to the event and to seek to improve their earthquake-readiness measures as a matter of urgency," he added.

JAMAICA'S RISK

Jamaica's risk can be attributed, at least in part, to its sharing of the Enriquillo Plantain Garden Fault, which erupted to cause the devastation in Haiti in 2010.

The island also has a history of highly destructive earthquakes. The 1692 quake destroyed Port Royal, while a 1907 event claimed 1,000 lives in Kingston.

Yet, up to 2014, some 70 per cent of the Jamaica's building stock was said to be designed without professional inputs despite the 200 or so tremors that occur on the island annually.

Environmental management and development professional Eleanor Jones agreed with McDonald on the urgency of the situation.

"This is right in our backyard, but you also have earthquakes happening all over. What it is saying is that the plates are all very active; this is a very active time and we need to make a lot of changes. We have put up all these multistorey buildings, for example; are we paying attention to their structural integrity from the point of view of earthquake hazard?" commented environment management expert Eleanor Jones.

The planning and preparations, she maintained, have to go beyond the structural integrity of buildings to include rescue operations post event.

"We have to pay considerable attention to getting ready for urban search and rescue because after an earthquake, if you have buildings that collapse, you need to be able to save lives. We need to revisit whether we have in place what is needed. We have, for example, all these high-rise buildings; can the fire service access them?" she quizzed.

Action, Jones said, is needed now.

"We have a lot of needs in Jamaica and so tend to sweep some things under the rug, things that what we think may be an eventuality. But we can't do that with earthquakes. Kingston is a big city and Kingston is where you have the highest risk for this," she said.

STANDARDS CRITICAL

"We have to ensure that we don't have an earthquake to come and test us. We need to make sure we are following standards and the standards are not only for the structures, but for the whole planning, including the movement of traffic and so on. We need to look at all of that and not just talk. We spend too much time talking," Jones said further.

McDonald is of a similar view.

"Efforts in Jamaica to improve the building code, seismic safety measures in hospitals, schools, essential services and places of public assembly need to be urgently addressed. Jamaicans need to ensure that all possible lessons learnt from the Port au Prince, Haiti earthquake of 2010, the recent Mexican earthquake and Tuesday's event in the southern Caribbean are analysed and infused in their preparedness plans," he said.

"New techniques and able to provide warnings on earthquake events based on the widespread availability of cell phones among the public, and already in use in Mexico, Japan and New Zealand, also need to be explored," he added.

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