By the Caribbean Journal staff

A team of engineers from the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez has arrived in the British Virgin Islnads to begin a series of upgrades to the territory’s seismic network.

The project is being carried out in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding first signed in 2005 between Chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez Campus and the Government of the British Virgin Islands.

“Collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez goes as far back as the early 1980s, prior to Hurricane Hugo,” said Sharleen DaBreo, director of the department of disaster management. “The relationship has been expanded over the years to include the University’s Seismic and Strong Motion Programmes. For the past ten years we have benefitted considerably from this partnership and the University has invested significantly in the development of a seismic and strong motion network for the BVI.”

The DDM is now in talks with the University’s Professor José Martínez-Cruzado, who is leading the team in the territory, regarding the expansion of the MoU.

“We want to ensure that the relationship can further develop and that the technical support that has been provided over the past ten years is maintained,” DaBreo said. “We live and work in a seismically active region of the world and it is important that we are able to collaborate with institutions like UPRM to assist in the improvement of monitoring networks that can guide development and can alert us when events occur.”