The Town and Country Planning Division of The Ministry of Planning and the Economy in conjunction with the UWI Seismic Research Centre conducted a Seismic Microzonation Project Workshop entitled, Mitigating an Evolving Crisis. The workshop was hosted at the Institute of Critical Thinking, Centre for Language Learning Building, UWI Campus, St Augustine on Wednesday 25th January at 8:30 am to 12:30 pm. The purpose of the workshop was to provide the many stakeholders involved with sufficient understanding and the benefits of the intended Seismic Microzonation Project.
Background
Current information on seismic risk relies on the existing geological maps which fail to show the details and extent of vulnerability in key population and economic nodes in Trinidad and Tobago. Increasing intensity of development especially in the design of public buildings makes it imperative that land use policies are informed more accurately by in depth hazards assessments, made possible by fully operational seismic hazards Microzonation database.
Benefits
The acquisition of seismic Microzonation data would allow the nature of the seismic hazard to be quantified on a national and local scale and so inform land use policies. This project will have as one of its outcomes the creation of maps which subdivide the country into zones based upon the identification of seismic hazards such as ground shaking, liquefaction susceptibility, landslide and rock fall hazard and earthquake-related flooding, as we endeavour to reduce Trinidad and Tobago’s vulnerability to natural hazards.
