The National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) will participate in the Caribe Wave Tsunami Exercise on Thursday 10th March, 2022.
As part of this exercise, the Bank of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Port Authority, the National Insurance Scheme and the Ministry of National Security will activate their Tsunami Evacuation Plans and evacuate to the Intermediate High School at McKies Hill and the Sion Hill Anglican Church (Church of the Ascension). These are the NEMO designated assembly points in the event of a tsunami.
The main objective of the Tsunami Evacuation Exercise is to test the Tsunami Inundation Evacuation Plans developed for Kingstown under the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and its Caribbean Tsunami Information Centre Tsunami Recognition Programme.
Several employees of the Bank of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Port Authority, The National Insurance Scheme and the Ministry of National Security will participate in this exercise. According to Director of the National Emergency Management Organisation, Michelle Forbes, participation in the Tsunami Evacuation Exercise will give stakeholders a better understanding of where their business operates in relation to the tsunami risk; the areas likely to be flooded by the tsunami waves; and the assembly areas outside the tsunami inundation zone.
Forbes is also appealing to the public that this is an exercise and not a real event. The exercise is intended to simulate or pretend that an earthquake occurred off the coast of Panama and present a Tsunami Threat to Kingstown. NEMO will activate the National Tsunami Warning Protocols for St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Tsunami Evacuation Plans for the Bank of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Port Authority, The National Insurance Scheme and the Ministry of National Security will also be activated.
Once again, the public is asked to note that this is a pretend scenario and St. Vincent and the Grenadines is NOT under a real Tsunami Threat.
The Exercise will be held on Thursday 10th March, 2022 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon.
