The UWI Earthquake Unit has waited for five years for just
under $5 million in funding to upgrade its early warning earthquake system on
the island.
According to the head of the unit, Dr. Lyndon Brown, the unit has been operating on an outdated analog system for years.
He says in order for the Earthquake unit, which operates out of the University of the West Indies, Mona campus to be more efficient in research and tracking earthquakes, a new digital system is required.
However he says the unit has been lobbying the government for half a decade with no positive results.
With the world now familiar with images of the devastation an earthquake can cause through the tragedy in Haiti, it is important for researchers to be equipped with state of the art equipment that will aid in setting up an early warning system.
But while in other places a digital monitoring system is a given when studying earthquakes, in Jamaica its still a dream.
Speaking at the RJR's Editors Forum on Friday afternoon head of the earthquake unit, Dr. Lyndon Brown says much more is needed.
"We have been trying for the past five years to make the Office of the Prime Minister, that's where we submit our budget to, understand the need to get the system going,"
"It has not been deferred but just not enough funding has been coming into the unit to introduce the system. It is very important to understand the ground locations as an earthquake happens and it will also allow us to solve properly the equations for an earthquake,"
He added that with the current system relevant information is often lost.
"When an earthquake happens there about nine pieces of information that you can get from it. Sometimes on the analog system some of the information is lost because the range in which the system can manage the signals is outside the scope of the analog system," Dr. Brown said.
He says the overall cost of this upgraded equipment is just under $5 million.
Dr. Brown says the lack of basics such as transportation and a proper facility where efficient research and tracking can happen are also concerns as the unit does not have a home for itself, but is now part of the University's Geology Department.
Meanwhile there has been much fear that Jamaica may be next in line for an earthquake with tremors in Haiti, Venezuela, Guatemala and the Cayman Islands up to recently.
However, Dr. Brown says the notion that Jamaica may be on a fault line is mere speculation.
"The activity in Haiti triggers a bunch of aftershocks and that is natural within the same fault zone but apart from that we cannot say that they are related. People will make assumptions that they are related. Not enough work has been done, no one knows the strain that has been building up along these faults to conclusively say that one creates another. As far as we know they are separate systems and they are not related," he said.
According to the head of the unit, Dr. Lyndon Brown, the unit has been operating on an outdated analog system for years.
He says in order for the Earthquake unit, which operates out of the University of the West Indies, Mona campus to be more efficient in research and tracking earthquakes, a new digital system is required.
However he says the unit has been lobbying the government for half a decade with no positive results.
With the world now familiar with images of the devastation an earthquake can cause through the tragedy in Haiti, it is important for researchers to be equipped with state of the art equipment that will aid in setting up an early warning system.
But while in other places a digital monitoring system is a given when studying earthquakes, in Jamaica its still a dream.
Speaking at the RJR's Editors Forum on Friday afternoon head of the earthquake unit, Dr. Lyndon Brown says much more is needed.
"We have been trying for the past five years to make the Office of the Prime Minister, that's where we submit our budget to, understand the need to get the system going,"
"It has not been deferred but just not enough funding has been coming into the unit to introduce the system. It is very important to understand the ground locations as an earthquake happens and it will also allow us to solve properly the equations for an earthquake,"
He added that with the current system relevant information is often lost.
"When an earthquake happens there about nine pieces of information that you can get from it. Sometimes on the analog system some of the information is lost because the range in which the system can manage the signals is outside the scope of the analog system," Dr. Brown said.
He says the overall cost of this upgraded equipment is just under $5 million.
Dr. Brown says the lack of basics such as transportation and a proper facility where efficient research and tracking can happen are also concerns as the unit does not have a home for itself, but is now part of the University's Geology Department.
Meanwhile there has been much fear that Jamaica may be next in line for an earthquake with tremors in Haiti, Venezuela, Guatemala and the Cayman Islands up to recently.
However, Dr. Brown says the notion that Jamaica may be on a fault line is mere speculation.
"The activity in Haiti triggers a bunch of aftershocks and that is natural within the same fault zone but apart from that we cannot say that they are related. People will make assumptions that they are related. Not enough work has been done, no one knows the strain that has been building up along these faults to conclusively say that one creates another. As far as we know they are separate systems and they are not related," he said.
comments powered by Disqus
All feeds
