Caribbean Warned To Brace For More Devastating Earthquakes

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Caribbean governments are being warned that they should adequately prepare their countries to deal with earthquakes with a bigger magnitude than what occurred in Haiti earlier this week leaving trail of death and destruction.

Initial reports indicate that as many as 50,000 people may have been killed when the earthquake struck Port au Prince on Tuesday.

University of the West Indies (UWI) seismologist, Dr. Joan Lutchman, said Friday that records show that the Caribbean has been hit with powerful earthquakes in the past than the 7.3 magnitude that rocked Haiti on Tuesday.

"One day it will happen the hazard is real, the earthquakes that can devastate the region can occur and one day it will occur," she said, noting that the region lies on several "plates" giving rise to the earthquake and volcanic activity experienced throughout the Eastern Caribbean.

"..and it is the reason why we expect that we have seen in the past will continue in the future because of the boundaries, because the plates continue to move.

"Earthquakes will continue to occur, we are recording small earthquakes all the time, sometimes once a month, they are large enough for some people to feel them, so we know the processes are continuing," she said.

Latchman warned Caribbean countries that the earthquakes would be disastrous "only if we do not cater for it, "adding "the reason that we are seeing the kind of devastation in Haiti is because, yes it is a large earthquake, there is no question about that, but other factors came together to create the disaster we are seeing there.

"It occurred at shallow depth, it occurred not far from Port au Prince, there is a large population in Port au Prince and the housing stock is very poorly constructed. So you have a high density population in an area that experienced extremely high shaking along with the poor construction.

"So if you don't have all these things coming into play, it (earthquake) does not necessarily have to be ugly," she said noting how the Japan has been able to deal with earthquakes with stronger magnitudes than what occurred in Haiti.

"You have earthquakes occurring in Japan of that kind of magnitude more regularly than you have them in the Caribbean but you don't see that kind of disaster in Japan anymore because they have learnt from their experiences and they have catered their development in consistent with their hazard," she said, noting that "it is a lesson we should take on board".

She warned that the Caribbean does not have "bottomless resources" and that "when we extend our resources we should be seeking to ensure that we don't have to do that over."

The UWI seismologist dismissed suggestions that the earthquake which hit Haiti was "the big one" intended for the United States.

"No not at all. The Caribbean plates generate its own earthquakes and the North American plates have its own boundaries and will generate its own earthquakes," she said.

Latchman warned that ""many other big ones are still pending and that in the history of "our countries we have found reports indicating that earthquakes causing intensity higher than what occurred in Haiti on Tuesday have occurred here in Trinidad".

Source: Caribbean Media Corporation

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