Recent tsunamis in Japan (2011), Chile (2014, 2015) and Indonesia (2018) attest to the importance of readiness - when a tsunami arrives and communities are ready to respond, lives are saved.  The Caribbean and its adjacent seas, including the Atlantic, have been the source region for 11% of the world’s fatal tsunamis over history, with almost 100 tsunamis observed that have impacted 23 countries of this region.  Member States of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and Other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (ICG/CARIBE EWS) must therefore be prepared to face the dangers of tsunamis from distant, regional and local sources. 

Last June, the IOC Executive Council at its 55th session, took a fundamental step towards one of the major objectives of the Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme (ODTP) to “make 100% of communities at risk of tsunamis prepared for and resilient to tsunamis by 2030” through the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme (UNESCO/IOC TRRP) and similar initiatives [Decision EC-55/3.5.1(IV)].  The UNESCO-IOC TRRP is a key contribution to achieving the societal outcome of the ‘Ocean Decade: ‘A Safe Ocean where life and livelihoods are protected from ocean-related hazards’.

UNESCO/IOC’s Caribbean Tsunami Information Centre (CTIC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service (NOAA NWS) International Tsunami Information Center Caribbean Office (ITIC-CAR), are currently implementing nine (9) community projects regionally in seven (7) Member States under the UNESCO/IOC TRRP.  The implementation of these projects are being supported through kind funding from UNESCO/IOC, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the United States Agency for International Development/Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA) and the Australian High Commission’s Direct Aid Program (DAP).

Being conscious of the need for enhanced capacity at national and community levels UNESCO/IOC; in association with its CTIC, ITIC-CAR, the National University of Costa Rica, and the Government of Barbados, will host a 5-day workshop (08-12 August 2022) in Bridgetown Barbados to support the implementation of the UNESCO/IOC TRRP within the CARIBE EWS.  Over twenty (20) representatives from Barbados, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and regional organisations such as the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the University of the West Indies (UWI) are expected to participate.

The community of St. Matthias to Rendevous, Barbados which is preparing for nomination under the UNESCO/IOC TRRP will be the case study, and a study tour of this community will form an integral component of the workshop.  The workshop will be conducted in English through lecture-discussion, multimedia presentations, study tour, community engagement and hands on sessions with the aim of training participants to develop tsunami evacuation maps utilising the QGIS software. Key resources materials to be utilised include IOC Manuals and Guides 82: Preparing for Community Tsunami Evacuations: from Inundation to Evacuation Maps, Response Plans, and Exercises, and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Manuals and Guides 74: Standard Guidelines for the Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme.

For further information on the workshop, please contact Ms Alison Brome, UNESCO/IOC-Caribbean Tsunami Information Center (email: a.brome@unesco.org), Mrs. Esmeralda Borja-Aviles, Project Assistant, UNESCO/IOC (e.borja-aviles@unesco.org), Ms. Simone Bascombe, Project Assistant, UNESCO/IOC, (s.bascombe@unesco.org), Mrs. Christa G. von Hillebrandt-Andrade, Deputy Director Caribbean Office of the International Tsunami Information Center (christa.vonh@noaa.gov), and/or the Technical Secretary ICG/CARIBE-EWS, Mr Bernardo Aliaga (b.aliaga@unesco.org).