ODPEM to test tsunami early warning system in Port Maria, St. Mary

 

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) is set to test a Tsunami Early Warning System in Port Maria, St. Mary, later this month. 

 

The drill will take place on March 19 in collaboration with several local partners. 

 

ODPEM Regional Coordinator Marlon Brown made the announcement during a recent meeting of the St. Mary Chamber of Commerce at the Casa Maria Hotel in Port Maria. 

 

Mr. Brown said the exercise is part of the annual Carib Wave Regional Tsunami Response Test. 

 

He said six sirens have been installed as strategic locations across Port Maria and will sound at the same time during the drill to simulate a tsunami emergency. 

 

"So those alarms will go off. You will hear the information saying, 'This is a drill, this is a drill' and then you'll hear the sirens sounding and it will go on for about a minute or two, and then it will break and then you'll hear 'This is a drill' again and it goes on for that point. So during that period we will be evacuating... community members who will be particpating in it. We want to have some of the business community members also participating in it. We know everybody will not, but we want to get as much as possible," he outlined.  

 

Meanwhile, Mr. Brown said agencies such as the police and the fire brigade are receiving training to help ensure the exercise runs smoothly.

 

He added that the aim is for Port Maria to eventually take full ownership of the warning system, similar to the model already in place in Old Harbour Bay, St. Catherine. 

 

"We do have a parish response plan for tsunamis. That plan was developed a couple years ago and this is the test again to see if that plan would stand up, what we need to change about it and improve on it. The idea, from my point of view as the regional coordinator, is that we should have at least a quarterly sounding of the alarm so we know that this test is working, it's functional, right? And I know the team from JFB (Jamaica Fire Brigade) will be the ones monitoring and following through on these and then we'll agree upon those times. Of course, some notification will be given prior to these tests, but at least one of them will be without notification because we want to test how it is working, how aware people are from that part," he stressed.