Belizeans generally regard hurricanes and flooding as our greatest natural threats, but three devastating earthquakes in succession in the Central American, Caribbean and South American region – in the Gulf of Honduras in May of 2009, in Haiti this past January and in Chile a month later – has given pause to our local disaster coordinators and weather experts.
Most worrying is the threat of a tsunami – a giant wave of water built up by the pressure released following an earthquake – washing ashore with devastating force.
While none of these most recent earthquakes caused any tsunami to speak of, most remember the tragedy in the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day 2004, when Indonesia and surrounding countries were struck by a powerful earthquake and tsunami that killed over 200,000 people.
The National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO), National Fire Service, and other authorities last week unveiled an early warning system for tsunami threats – although tsunamis give very little warning, as much as 30 minutes at most.
According to City Councilor and NEMO coordinator for Belize City, Roger Espejo, Belize’s coastal communities, particularly Corozal Town, Belize City, Dangriga, Placencia/Independence, and Punta Gorda are all in line for a tsunami threat, and it was felt that there had to be something in place to at least give Belizeans a chance to get to safety.
Belize lies adjacent to the Caribbean fault, which runs through the Caribbean and under the Sarstoon River, and is thought to be the source of the 7.0 magnitude Haiti earthquake in January and last May’s earthquake in Honduras, whose epicenter was 140 miles from Belize City.
The National Fire Service, upon receiving confirmation from the Met Department and NEMO, will give the tsunami warning as follows: four 15-second blasts of a fire engine siren broken up by 5-second pauses, following which there is a three minute break and the warning begins again and continues until an all clear has been given. NEMO is working on an agreement with telephone companies BTL and SMART to issue text messages to subscribers at the time a warning is issued.
NEMO recommends, according to Espejo, that residents get away from the sea and move to a safe area, on higher ground, or the upper portion of any concrete building and stay there, until the threat has passed. Do not be tempted to go out on the highways and thus fall into a trap.
While NEMO recognizes that Belize’s vulnerable position makes it rather difficult to evacuate many people in a short space of time, the early warning system when put in place may possibly mitigate some of the damage, Espejo told us.
And Belizeans must be prepared for increased seismic activity in the area and the possibility of a major earthquake coming without warning at any time. Tsunami warnings are issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), which monitors the Pacific and western Atlantic Oceans for seismic activity.