Barbados is exploring the introduction of a coastal siren system as part of efforts to strengthen its tsunami warning capabilities.
Department of Emergency Management (DEM) consultant Chanté Saunders said emergency officials were in the early stages of outlining a proposal for sirens in key coastal areas that could be severely affected by a tsunami.
Speaking during Friday’s DEM orientation meeting for key stakeholders on the proposed West Coast Tsunami and Traffic Management Plan at Queen’s College School Hall, she acknowledged that the system would require significant investment.
“We recognise that this is not something that is cheap, so it would require some sort of investment and development, but we’re always looking for ways to make sure that we have various ways to reach each and every person,” she said.
Saunders stressed that while technology was important in disseminating warnings, officials also had to consider alternative methods of reaching the public in the event of technological failures.
“Technology is important [but] the offline ways of reaching persons are also important… We also know that technology fails and so there are other ways that we’re thinking of increasing the capacity for our tsunami warning system,” she said, adding that discussions on a possible siren system were held as recently as Thursday.
She said the DEM was also working to ensure warnings reached people across different age groups, recognising that communication preferences varied.
“We know that the radio use might be a more mature crowd, social media might be a younger crowd, so we do this research along with Barbados Met Service to try and target the different age groups,” Saunders said.
Among the initiatives already underway is the introduction of radio-interrupt technology, which allows emergency alerts to be broadcast automatically over radio stations.
Saunders said the DEM had partnered with radio stations across Barbados and signed memorandums of understanding to integrate them into the island’s disaster risk management network.
“We’ve installed technology that would be able to automatically cut into their broadcast and put out an alert. So as of right now we have about 10 stations that have the technology installed. We’ve done the testing, it works,” she said.
The DEM is now working with the Barbados Meteorological Services to integrate the technology into its workflow and bring the system into operation.
Saunders added that officials were also assessing the effectiveness of tsunami-related messages shared through social media, including recent drills and tests conducted by the Barbados Meteorological Services.
(SB)
