"We are very close to becoming a tsunami-ready community,” according to V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency Director Elton Lewis.
Other tsunami experts confirmed the territory is improving its readiness. Being a tsunami-ready community means the territory has to meet a slew of National Weather Service standards.
To help meet that goal, VITEMA has installed four warning sirens each on St. Thomas and St. Croix and two on St. John. Lewis said that while there was initially a wattage problem, the installation of bigger batteries solved the problem. He said the sirens are tested monthly, but the test is silent so it’s not heard.
“They all work,” he said, adding that they are triggered when a tsunami warning comes into the 911 emergency system.
On St. Thomas, the sirens are located near Emile Griffith Park in Charlotte Amalie, at Red Hook Marina, at Carib Beach Hotel near Cyril E. King Airport and at Wendy’s in Mandela Circle.
On St. Croix, they’re near D.C. Canegata ballpark outside Christiansted, on Emancipation Drive in Frederiksted, at the Legislature building in Frederiksted and at the government parking lot in Christiansted.
There are sirens in Winston Wells Ballfield in Cruz Bay and at the Guy Benjamin School in Coral Bay on St. John.
Eleven more sirens are currently being manufactured to be placed at other locations around the territory, Lewis said. He said that on St. Thomas, they will be placed at Crown Bay, Addelita Cancryn Junior High School, the Enid Baa Library, Fort Christian, the Lucinda Millin Home, Independent Boat Yard, Magens Bay, Coki Point and Water Island. On St. Croix, the new signs will be installed at Sion Farm, William’s Delight, Cane Bay, Cramer’s Park, the Divi Casino and Sprat Hall, he said.
Signs marking out evacuation routes are in the territory, but Lewis said he’s trying to get either the V.I. Water and Power Authority or the Public Works Department to install them. If that isn’t fruitful, he said the installation project will have to go out to bid.
Lewis didn’t have any idea when the signs were likely to be installed, but he said he hoped it would be within a couple of months. He said they will cover the entire territory.
Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade, who heads the Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program located at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez, spoke about the need for tourists to see signs that let them know which way to run because they won’t have maps handy.
Additionally Lewis said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has approved funding for inundation maps to show where the water is likely to go when a tsunami hits.
A tsunami caused by an earthquake in the area poses the biggest threat because there is little time for a warning.
“Go to high ground, not back to the parking lot to get your car. Get to a tree, a pole,” said retired University of the Virgin Islands professor and tsunami expert Roy Watlington, adding the upper floors in a building to the list.
Watlington said education is the key because the best way to evacuate an area isn’t always intuitive. For example, Watlington said that at Addelita Cancryn Junior High School on St. Thomas, the intuitive way to get out of the area crosses two busy roads before it reaches inland higher elevations. He said a better course of action would be to head for the hill where the Frostco building sits or to the higher elevations in nearby Frenchtown.
“Look for the nearest hill with the fewest impediments,” he said.
The road into Magens Bay is also at sea level for much of the way to the beach. Instead of taking the road out, Watlington suggested going up the hillsides along the road.
He also worries about low-lying areas where people live, in the case that those residents are at home when a tsunami hits. He mentioned places like Frenchtown, Smith Bay and Havensight on St. Thomas; Cruz Bay and Coral Bay on St. John; and Gallows Bay and other low-lying areas on St. Croix. He said although there are many places where communities sit along the shore, most of the homes are up on the hillsides.
“Even in Red Hook, the residences are elevated,” he said.
Lewis urged residents to look around and see where the highest spot near their house is located so they know where to run should a tsunami hits.
Tsunamis that are generated by distant earthquakes provide more warning, and Watlington said there is usually time to move the car.
While earthquake-caused tsunamis get the most attention, von Hillebrandt-Andrade pointed out that undersea landslides and volcanos both on land and below the sea can cause tsunamis. She said the active Montserrat volcano has caused tsunamis on nearby islands.
The establishment of a Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program in 2010 by the National Weather Service is a major advancement. For now, it’s a very small operation with only von Hillebrandt-Andrade, who previously served as head of the Puerto Rico Seismic Center, and a part-time student the only staff.
“It’s the first step,” she said.
This program will hopefully lead to the development of an early warning center in the Caribbean. Currently the tsunami warnings for the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the nearby British Virgin Islands come from the West Coast and Alaska Warning Center. The warnings for the rest of the Caribbean come from the Pacific Warning Center. Watlington and von Hillebrandt-Andradeboth said there are inconsistencies between the warnings issued by the two centers, which has caused confusion.
Additionally, von Hillebrandt-Andrade said a local tsunami warning center would take into account cultural factors when issuing warnings.
Funding for a fully developed warning center is an issue.
“It’s up to the U.S. Congress,” she said, adding that the governments of both Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands continue to work at making Congress understand how important the warning system is for the territories.
According to Watlington, there is a lot of misinformation floating around about tsunamis. He said one common misconception is that the water always flows out of the bay, but scientists don’t really know how a particular tsunami will behave until it happens.
While Watlington said that it’s good news that the territory is well on the road to being prepared, there will never be a time when it can stop making improvements.
“Technology keeps changing,” he said.
The Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program’s next big effort is a regional exercise to show how ready Caribbean islands are for a tsunami. Von Hillebrandt-Andrade said the exercise will be held March 20 across the Caribbean. Called Caribe Wave/Lantex, it will simulate an 8.5 earthquake that happened off Curacao.
For more on the Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program, visit http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/ctwp/ . Visit www.vitema.gov for information about disaster preparedness.
