The University of the West Indies’ chief seismologist on Tuesday urged ongoing preparedness for multiple natural hazards across the Caribbean after major earthquakes in Panama and Venezuela.
Disaster planning must remain a national priority, said Dr Erouscilla Joseph, director of the Trinidad-based Seismic Research Centre (UWI SRC), who noted that recent tectonic movements have renewed discussions about community readiness, emergency response coordination and the resilience of infrastructure across the wider Caribbean.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY on the broader implications of regional seismic events, she said that while large earthquakes occur along distinct tectonic boundaries, the geological processes involved are a reminder of the region’s vulnerability.
She said: “We live in this type of setting, and it’s a multi-hazard setting. It’s not just earthquakes; it’s volcanoes, it’s hurricanes, it’s storms, flooding… these are the risks that… we face on a daily basis, and we need to encompass that in a multi-hazard preparedness way.”
Dr Erouscilla Joseph (Photo credit: The UWI Seismic Research Centre)
The earthquakes in Panama and Venezuela occurred in different parts of a complex network of tectonic plates — vast, slowly moving slabs of the Earth’s outer shell — around the Caribbean plate.
Panama lies near the meeting of the Caribbean, Cocos, Nazca and South American plates, with a smaller block known as the Panama microplate between them. Nearby subduction zones – where one plate sinks beneath another – contribute to the region’s earthquake activity, but the Panama quake involved strike-slip movement — rocks sliding sideways along a fault.
In northern Venezuela, the Caribbean and South American plates also slide past each other, building up stress that can be released suddenly as earthquakes.
While the UWI SRC’s monitoring networks in the Lesser Antilles do not directly track Central American faults, the processes governing these plate boundaries are similar to those affecting the Caribbean plate boundary.
“In relation to the 7.7 magnitude event that took place in Panama, this is related to the tectonic setting of that region,” Dr Joseph said, noting the similarities to active plate margins worldwide. “It is a subduction zone setting, which is similar to the eastern Caribbean on which the islands of the Lesser Antilles sit.”
Large earthquakes are usually followed by aftershocks as tectonic plates settle. A similar aftershock sequence followed the two major earthquakes in Venezuela in August, showing that tremors can continue for long periods.
“These aftershocks could go on for weeks to months before the plates settle back into normal rate of motion,” Dr Joseph said, comparing the sequence to active zones within the Pacific Ring of Fire, where subduction processes frequently generate long series of aftershocks.
While disruptions in one part of the world do not directly translate into immediate stresses along unrelated fault lines, Dr Joseph said the Lesser Antilles island chain sits along a similar active plate boundary, making preparedness an ongoing necessity rather than a response to individual events.
Dr Joseph explained that seismic activity in neighbouring regions does not automatically increase the immediate threat to the Eastern Caribbean, though constant preparedness remains essential.
“Disruptions and plate tectonic activity in one part of the world doesn’t necessarily translate into the similar type of stresses in other areas,” Dr Joseph said. “However, the processes which govern the activity happen as a result of the subduction-type movement which is happening in our region. We are exposed to the same type of movement, so we are always on the alert for large events.
“The thing is preparedness. That doesn’t mean to say that we are at more risk now because of the Venezuela event or the Panama event. We have always been exposed to the same type of risk, and we should prepare for, you know, the fact that we do live in a subduction zone type setting, and this is some of the consequences of living in this type of setting.”
Governments and disaster management agencies across the region have been advised to update building codes, strengthen critical infrastructure and conduct routine evacuation drills.
As the Caribbean faces overlapping environmental threats — including hurricanes, tropical storms and volcanic activity — efforts to reduce risk must involve coordination across government, agencies and communities, experts say.
They urged these efforts extend beyond immediate public awareness campaigns and be integrated into government infrastructure, community planning and institutional responses.
“When we talk about preparedness, it has to be in that kind of comprehensive way so that our societies can be more resilient,” Dr Joseph said.
(RR)
