The National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United Nations Education Sports and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the United States National Weather Services (USNWS) and the Caribbean Tsunami Warning Programme (CTWP) will conduct a series of Tsunami Ready Workshops in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with different stakeholders during the period February 25 – March 01, 2019.

The series of activities will commence on Monday, 25th March, 2019 with, a three-day workshop which targets technical persons from different agencies. The main objective of this workshop is to give participants an overview of the Tsunami Ready Programme and to expose them to the following areas:

  • Tsunami Science, Modeling and Hazard Assessment.
  • Tsunami Modeling using ComMIT Features, model parameters, output.
  • Basic tsunami wave amplitude and arrival tool.
  • Bathymetric grids: grid sizing, instabilities, model parameters, PMEL grids development for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
  • Moving from Inundation Map to Evacuation Map.

Representatives from Coastal Communities and the Tourism Sector will join the technical group on Thursday, 28th February, and Friday, 1st March, 2019, for the second workshop which will expose participants to the process of using GIS to develop Evacuation Maps, the data necessary for tsunami evacuation map-making, Integrating GIS data layers for evacuation map-making (critical and sensitive infrastructure: schools, hospitals, hotels, airports) and the Guidelines for defining the tsunami evacuation zones and assembly points. There will also be a hands-on session to finalize the evacuation map.

On Thursday, 28th February, 2019, at 5:00 p.m., there will also be a community meeting at the Calliaqua Hard Court. This meeting targets residence, owners and operators of businesses along the coastal communities from Arnos Vale to Argyle. The purpose of this community meeting is to sensitize persons to the Tsunami Ready Pilot Project and Programme and to present the Tsunami Inundation Map of the area to the public.

There will be an official opening session on Monday, 25th February, at 9:00 a.m. at NEMO’s Conference Room, Old Montrose.

Additional Information:

The NOAA, UNESCO, IOC CARIBE EWS Tsunami Ready Pilot Project is being implemented on mainland Saint Vincent from Kingstown to Argyle (Parish of St. George) and in Union Island through financial support from USAID with support from the Caribbean Tsunami Information Centre (CTIC). The project will end on the 30th of September, 2019. Some of the activities included in this project are:

  • Development and presentation of Tsunami Inundation Maps
  • Capacity building training for tsunami evacuation mapping
  • Fabrication and installation of tsunami signage
  • Development and review of Tsunami Standard Operating Procedures
  • Establishment of a National Tsunami Ready Board.

Instructors for the Tsunami Mapping Evacuation Planning Workshops:

  • Christopher Moore, NOAA Center for Tsunami Research/Pacific Marine Environmental Lab, Seattle
  • Carlos Rodríguez, Global Matrix Engineering, Dominican Republic
  • Carolina Hincapie, NOAA/NWS ITIC-Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program, Puerto Rico
  • Michelle Forbes, National Emergency Management Organization, SVG
  • Representative, Caribbean Tsunami Information Center, Barbados

For more information on the UNESCO IOC TSUNAMI READY PROGRAMME, please visit:
http://itic.ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=2234&Itemid=275



SOURCE: NEMO



Address

Ministry of National Security,
Melville Street,
Kingstown, Saint Vincent

Telephone

(784) 457-1426
PBX
(784) 456-1111
Ext.
4741
Email
office.natsec@mail.gov.vc