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Room: Ballroom

Date: 4/18/2023

Session Time: 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM (local time)

Erouscilla P. Joseph, The University of West Indies

The UWI Seismic Research Centre (SRC) is the agency responsible for monitoring earthquakes and volcanoes in the English-speaking islands of the Eastern Caribbean, spanning ~850 km along the arc.  The Centre operates the largest volcano and earthquake monitoring network in the Caribbean and has been doing so for almost 70 years.  The SRC provides the governments of its 9 contributing territories with accurate and up-to-date information about earthquake, volcanic and other geologic activity, including 19 live volcanoes. 

Volcanic eruptions have resulted in loss of life and have had significant economic impact on some islands.  Despite this, Governments in the Eastern Caribbean are generally more prepared and aware of other hazards (e.g. hurricanes) than of volcanic eruptions.  To manage the volcanic threat, the SRC maintains a continuously recording seismic network, continuous and campaign-style GPS networks and monitors hydrothermal fluids in the islands of their responsibility.  This is complemented by a program of hazard mapping and basic geologic investigation designed to improve understanding of volcanic systems in the region. The high volatility of key government establishments and low frequency of volcanic eruptions presents further challenges to sustaining a high level of volcanic hazard awareness and dictates the need for a variety of techniques to get the message across. Several volcano-seismic crises and volcanic eruptions during the past 70 years have served to illustrate the challenges of delivering timely and appropriate information to the civil authorities and public. Experience has shown the need to maintain an active Education and Outreach programme and the Centre use a variety of techniques (such as public lectures, stakeholder workshops and meeting, press interviews, web tools, exhibitions), to communicate accurate information on volcanic hazard and risk to local civil authorities and the public in the Eastern Caribbean.  Reaching out to vulnerable island communities has been challenging and issuing early warnings to governments in different islands at various stages of nation building has required adaptation and change.  

Like many monitoring agencies in resource-constrained settings, continuing to fund and sustain this level of monitoring and communication is a continuous strain, made more complicated in this context by the need to engage with nine different governments and disaster management agencies. This talk presents some of the challenges faced by SRC in hazard mitigation and in the dissemination of volcanic hazard and risk information to vulnerable populations, particularly as it relates to small states with fragile economies.  
 

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