THE EARTHQUAKE catastrophe in southern Asia has prompted regional Caribbean agencies to start working towards a tsunami warning system. This is one reaction even as the world responds to a gigantic humanitarian dilemma with the United Nations spearheading its greatest relief effort.
Already hurricane-prone, this region must feel vulnerable to the kind of natural disaster which has wreaked such devastation and loss of life from the impact of tsunami waves generated by earthquakes deep in the Indian Ocean.
The scientific expertise available from the University of the West Indies makes it clear that the region should be on guard. For as Dr. Rafi Ahmad of the UWI puts it, if Kick 'Em Jenny, a submarine volcano located in the Lesser Antilles, erupted and generated a tsunami it could reach Kingston in 150 minutes. News agency reports indicate that while the Pacific Ocean has sophisticated tsumani warning systems, the Indian Ocean countries do not.
What Caribbean governments have to determine is whether the geology of the region, in particular the underlying tectonic boundaries, make the island territories vulnerable. CARICOM and other nations must therefore schedule with urgency the relevant action to establish the feasibility of an early warning system for the region. Hurricanes have a season; earthquakes and tsunami, as far as we are aware, do not.
It is also important to note that much of the devastation from tsunamis is on coastal settlements, and tourism resorts are largely located along coastlines with attractive beaches. So while local tourism interests may anticipate a favourable fallout from the damage to resorts in the Far East, there is irony in the fact that beaches in places subject to seismic activity may not be the paradise they seem.
Dr. Ahmad's article, which we published yesterday, sets out some safety rules that may be appropriate not only for resort beaches in the tourist sector, but also to the many settlements along coastlines throughout the region. The rules end with this kicker: "Never go down to the beach to watch for a tsunami. When you see the wave you are too close to escape it." The reason, of course, is that those waves travel with the speed of a jetliner.
The urgency of the need for greater public education for commercial interests, public sector agencies and the public in general, with businesses and residences on coastal areas, has been thrown in sharper focus by the South East Asia disaster. We, in this region, should be wary of falling victim to complacency on the premise that disasters of this type are rare.
It takes only one to set back a country's development by decades.
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