Tsunami Readiness Workshop

ZIZ News — St. Kitts and Nevis is receiving technical assistance from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency’s Coordinating Unit as part of the Caribbean’s continuing efforts to address tsunami readiness, through training and infrastructural development.

A workshop geared toward establishing standard operating procedures and protocols for tsunami readiness took place today at NEMA headquarters.

CDEMA’s   Mitigation and Preparedness Specialist Donna Pierre says the protocols are a guide as to what needs to be done in the event of a tsunami. “the protocols really identify the—like i said– the regulatory requirements as in who receives the information, what do they do with the information, how do they analyze it and one they analyze and recognize that there is a threat, what other actions they need to take in terms of notification.

Present at the workshop were government agencies including the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Education as well as the Red Cross.

According to Pierre it is important for each agency to be a part of the discussion. “Tsunami like most hazards will impact a number of stakeholders; they will impact everybody. So what we are trying to do is to get as much stake holders around the table so they can identify their own needs and what they do is work together with the disaster office in terms of how do we collaborative initiatives that will address some of these needs and ensure that everybody is prepared.

A similar workshop is expected to take place in Nevis on Wednesday and Thursday.