The UWI St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago. Friday, March 10, 2023 – Two members of The University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre Education and Outreach (E&O) team are in Dominica from February 27th – March 10th to meet with disaster management stakeholders, conduct fieldwork and facilitate workshops as the UWI-SRC endeavours to build an evidence base for future volcano risk communication on the island.
This visit forms a part of the “Building resilience of at-risk communities to volcanic eruptions through evidence-based communications in Dominica.” project. As a seed project this project seeks to pave the way for future work that will develop a tailor-made risk communication strategy and communication products for Dominica. While on island, the E&O team will host a breakfast meeting with local disaster risk management stakeholders, conduct interviews with key functionaries and administer a survey on Dominica’s geohazard risk information needs and preferences.
Photo taken by Omari Graham
During their visit the UWI-SRC’s E&O team will also host focus groups in selected communities as well as a creative workshop with local partners. The creative workshop will serve as the first step in co-producing an educational animated short film on Dominica’s volcanoes. It is intended that the information gathered other these two weeks would inform communication approaches uniquely suited to the Dominican context. The UWI-SRC recognises the critical role of communication in effective crisis response and through this project is seeking lay the groundwork for efficient volcano crisis communication in Dominica and the other the territories it serves.
The project is a joint undertaking between the University of Cambridge and The University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre and is lead by Dr. Lara Mani and Ms Stacey Edwards. The Dominican public invited to participate in the project by completing the information needs survey found here: https://cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3k2LmomtX260fQ2?fbclid=IwAR1Y18x5TjRA4gi6xFvFRQr6xphUr9NEw93M26Cyq_pRy_X4eXvfqkcplXQ
