A National Tsunami Workshop was held at the Office of Disaster Management (ODM) on Thursday 7th and Friday 8th November, 2019. The workshop was funded by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and ODM. Support was also provided by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO/IOC) and its Caribbean Tsunami Information Centre (CTIC) and the European Commission Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO). World Tsunami Day is internationally recognized on November 5, annually.
Among the objectives of the workshop were to produce draft National Tsunami Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Dominica. Key output of the Regional Tsunami Workshop held recently in Barbados. Local Consultant and facilitator for the Workshop, Gelina Fontaine, stated that “although Tsunami is a rare occurrence in the region, there is an archive of historical Tsunami events in the Caribbean basin in the last two centuries and based on Dominica’s location near the subduction zone of the Atlantic and Caribbean plates, it is imperative that Dominica positions itself to manage seismic events including tsunami impact”.
Ms Fontaine indicated that National SOPs will be developed with the relevant agencies which will be reflected in vulnerable Communities Emergency Plans and SOPs. The community of Calibishie on the northeastern Atlantic Coast of Dominica is one of the most vulnerable to oceanic events and it has been identified for a Tsunami Simulation Exercise in January 2020. Calibishe had some initial capacity in terms of tsunami preparedness including risk mapping, emergency planning, signage and evacuation procedures, but suffered major setbacks due to Category 5 Hurricane Maria.
Tsunamis are a series of enormous ocean waves usually caused by earthquakes, underwater landslides and volcanic eruptions. If you are on the coast and you see the water recede quickly and unexpectedly or feel a strong earthquake move quickly and safely inland or to higher ground as a tsunami may have been generated.
In attendance at the workshop were representatives from Dominica Police Force, Fire and Ambulance Services, Dominica Coast Guard, Dominica Association of Persons with Disabilities (DAPD), Dominica Red Cross, Faith-Based Organizations, Local Government Division, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment, Climate Resilience, Disaster Management and Urban Renewal, Youth Emergency Action Committees (YEAC) and representatives from the Calibishie Community.
