Earthquake map
THE BEST defence against any tsunami or seiche is public awareness of what to look for and what to do. It is in fact the only defense against such local phenomena. Even with technologically-driven warning systems it is the public's heeding and response to the signals that determine life or death.
Nevertheless the technological option of Tsunami Warning Systems (TWS) offers advance warning particularly for areas very far from the source and for events that occur at nights when precursors cannot be observed. By September of this year the Caribbean should have in place the first TWS comprising nine fully automated seismograph stations and five DART II (Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoys deployed on land and sea areas, respectively. These stations will be deployed by the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Data will be transmitted via real-time satellite links to the respective agencies where automatic processing will alert analysts within minutes of the occurrence of a tsunamigenic event. Analysts will then have to verify and decide whether and where to issue notices.
The IOCARIBE (Caribbean Inter-Oceanic Commission) is also seeking to have a number of existing seismograph stations upgraded and linked via satellite into the embryonic TWS at the Puerto Rico Seismic Network. It is envisaged that the region will need about twenty such stations for an effective TWS.
