Dr Erouscilla Joseph
Director, UWI Seismic Research Centre
The geohazards monitored by the UWI Seismic Research Centre (UWI SRC) occur on timescales that are longer than a human lifetime. There are generations of families who have heard the same refrain from scientists at the centre: “Our region can experience large, damaging earthquakes and we must be prepared at all levels of society.”
The numbers do not lie, as we have had large-magnitude earthquakes, but not in our lifetimes. Add in the climate-change debate and the fatalistic approach most adults have to earthquakes, and the centre has an uphill battle to remain present within the population’s mindset.
For seven decades, the UWI SRC has ensured that the seismic and volcanic monitoring of the nine English-speaking territories it oversees is of the highest standard and quality, despite the centre’s financial challenges. We have developed partnerships with disaster management offices and stakeholders (public and private) to raise awareness of these hazards.
Through funding via projects with international agencies and partners, we have maintained a presence on each territory. With the need to maintain the global standard for monitoring agencies like ourselves, we are constantly developing to ensure adequate monitoring services are provided and that our messages are understood and, more importantly, implemented.
Earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.5 are reported in real time to our interactive map on the website (www.uwiseismic.com). After an earthquake, in the space of minutes, an automatic solution is posted to our social media platforms.
[caption id="attachment_1008892" align="alignnone" width="683"] Dr Erouscilla Joseph -[/caption]
We share the latest research and updates on monitoring techniques and simplify scientific terms to help the public better understand the geohazards that we monitor. The staff at the centre can be mobilised in hours to respond to signs of increased volcanic unrest on any of the islands that we monitor and our recent management of the La Soufriere 2020-2021 eruption in St Vincent and the Grenadines was not just successful (no fatalities recorded), but earned a most prestigious award from the global volcanology community.
The research we undertake often has tangible products that can be implemented into a country’s mitigation or planning framework.
One such endeavour, the TT Microzonation Project (TTMP), was a collaboration between the Ministry of Planning and Development (MPD) and the centre that began in 2012 and ended in 2021.
The project developed seismic microzonation maps for ten towns and cities throughout TT. In order to better define the seismic hazard in urban areas, the project involved extensive geological and geophysical fieldwork and collection of data.
The products are thematic maps, which can be used by city planners to better develop urban areas and help them minimise earthquake impacts. We often state, "Earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do," and we continue to raise awareness in this r
