“Water level sensors, which pick up on visible changes in the ocean, are being strategically located across the island,” said Brian Murray, deputy director of the country’s weather services.
We have systems from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and the University of the West Indies Center for Seismic Research, as described in the launch of Coastal Hazards and Seismic Month 2023.
The Met Services has added the BMS Insight app and CAP.CAP, both downloadable in the Google Play Store, with improved Multiple Hazard Early Warning Systems (Mhews), he said.
At Folkestone Park and Marine Reserve, located in the western region of St. James, we have equipment such as Doppler radar, automatic stations, satellite imagery and digital weather models, Murray said.
He warned that the risk of tsunamis, generated by undersea earthquakes in the eastern Caribbean or in the Atlantic, could not be ignored.
This island, with a population of nearly 300,000 inhabitants, was affected by these phenomena in 1755 and 1761 after a shock in Lisbon, Portugal, and also in 1767 by one in Martinique. Similarly, in 1902 due to the eruption of La Soufriere volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines; In 1939 by submarine from Kick’em Jenny north of Granada. And in 1969 there was an earthquake in Guadeloupe.
On those occasions, tsunamis ranged in height from 0.4 to 1.8 metres, which specialists described as “relatively mild”.
A local expert confirmed, however, that the government is working in collaboration with its strategic partners to improve Barbados’ resilience to coastal hazards.
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