Above: Old Harbour Bay

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management held an earthquake and tsunami evacuation drill yesterday in Old Harbour Bay.

The drill tested local warning, mobilization and evacuation procedures.

“I think we really got out of it what we wanted,” said Horace Glaze, senior director for Emergency Preparedness and Operations at ODPEM. “I saw where it took some time from when the heads of agencies got the message to when it was sent out to the community level, as well as the instruments used. They were effective, but their reach goes only so far, so what we need to do now is adopt more technology to get it out to a wider reach in the community.”

The Caribbean region is not immune to earthquakes and tsunamis — in fact, some say it is due for a large-scale earthquake.

https://www.caribjournal.com2011/12/20/for-large-scale-earthquake-in-eastern-caribbean-a-question-of-when-not-if/