EDUCATION & OUTREACH
 At the Seismic Research Centre we recognize the important role of sound public education
programmes in creating prepared communities. Effective action during an emergency
can only be achieved if the public is made fully aware, in advance, of the nature
of the hazard, the consequent risks and what can be done to reduce these risks.
Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes share the common feature that they happen fairly
infrequently but when they do happen the consequences can be devastating. By unfortunate
coincidence the mean interval between such disasters is roughly comparable with
one human lifetime so that the memory of the previous event would have just about
faded from public consciousness when the next one occurs. Maintaining public preparedness
for geologic disasters through the long, quiescent periods presents a significant
challenge.
The Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project (CDMP) demonstrated that there is often
a considerable gap between the perception of the level of a geologic hazard in the
scientific community and the perception of that same hazard by the general public.
The comparative figures for deaths caused by volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis
in the Eastern Caribbean clearly indicate that geologic hazards should be taken
as seriously as hurricane hazards.
|
Type of Event |
No. of deaths caused |
|
Volcanoes |
> 30,000 |
|
Earthquakes |
Approx. 15,000 |
|
Hurricanes |
Approx. 15,000 |
|
Tsunamis |
Approx. 50 |
The SRC is involved in several education and outreach activities including traveling
exhibitions, student and public lectures, as well as resource material production.
Through our public education and outreach efforts we continue to demonstrate our
commitment to increasing geologic hazards awareness across the Eastern Caribbean.
Preparedness can make all the difference and public education programmes can save
lives.
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