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'Big one' will hit Trinidad
Published on: 1/16/2010.
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad - An earthquake similar in magnitude to the one that devastated Haiti will strike Trinidad and Tobago sometime in the future.
It is not a question of if it will occur, but when, said seismologist with the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Unit in St Augustine,
Dr Joan Latchman.
In a Press briefing on Thursday, Latchman said Trinbagonians' fear of major earthquakes may be lulled because of there not having been a major shake in decades, but in fact the twin island republic
is 22 years overdue.
She said a tremor of similar proportions to the one which wrecked Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince had been on the cards for over two decades. The Haitian quake was recorded as 7.0 on the scale - which measures its destructive power. In 2006, an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter Scale damaged homes in Tobago. The most recent quake
felt in Trinidad was recorded last Monday
- it measured 4.4.
If a quake does hit, those living in areas like the swampy Beetham Gardens, Laventille hillsides, the reclaimed
sea beds in West Trinidad and unplanned squatting communities would be the most vulnerable to experiencing the
worst effects of
the brutal shaking
that would accompany
the earthquake.
When asked about Trinidad's level of risk, given the proximity of Haiti, Latchman said:
"We do sit on the corner
of the Caribbean plate.
All of the Eastern Caribbean, including Venezuela, is on a seismic plate boundary. So, yes, we will have earthquakes."
After explaining that seismologists have given the country a century-long cycle in relation to the occurrence of large earthquakes, she said given that the last major shake occurred between Grenada and T&T in 1888, the country was about
22 years overdue.
She said: "We do expect a large event soon.
How soon is what
we don't know."
However, Latchman said there was no need for mass panic if the country kept in mind that earthquakes were not what killed people, but instead it was the falling debris and sometimes improperly built buildings that did the damage.
She warned that the country should prepare. "When the big earthquake does occur, we do not want it to devastate the economy and destroy
the country."
Dr Walter Salazar,
an earthquake engineer
at UWI also said that Trinidad and Tobago should have country-specific building codes based on the result
of seismic maps done
for this region, and not
on codes that work for foreign countries.
(SP/Trinidad Express)
Published on: 1/16/2010.
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad - An earthquake similar in magnitude to the one that devastated Haiti will strike Trinidad and Tobago sometime in the future.
It is not a question of if it will occur, but when, said seismologist with the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Unit in St Augustine,
Dr Joan Latchman.
In a Press briefing on Thursday, Latchman said Trinbagonians' fear of major earthquakes may be lulled because of there not having been a major shake in decades, but in fact the twin island republic
is 22 years overdue.
She said a tremor of similar proportions to the one which wrecked Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince had been on the cards for over two decades. The Haitian quake was recorded as 7.0 on the scale - which measures its destructive power. In 2006, an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter Scale damaged homes in Tobago. The most recent quake
felt in Trinidad was recorded last Monday
- it measured 4.4.
If a quake does hit, those living in areas like the swampy Beetham Gardens, Laventille hillsides, the reclaimed
sea beds in West Trinidad and unplanned squatting communities would be the most vulnerable to experiencing the
worst effects of
the brutal shaking
that would accompany
the earthquake.
When asked about Trinidad's level of risk, given the proximity of Haiti, Latchman said:
"We do sit on the corner
of the Caribbean plate.
All of the Eastern Caribbean, including Venezuela, is on a seismic plate boundary. So, yes, we will have earthquakes."
After explaining that seismologists have given the country a century-long cycle in relation to the occurrence of large earthquakes, she said given that the last major shake occurred between Grenada and T&T in 1888, the country was about
22 years overdue.
She said: "We do expect a large event soon.
How soon is what
we don't know."
However, Latchman said there was no need for mass panic if the country kept in mind that earthquakes were not what killed people, but instead it was the falling debris and sometimes improperly built buildings that did the damage.
She warned that the country should prepare. "When the big earthquake does occur, we do not want it to devastate the economy and destroy
the country."
Dr Walter Salazar,
an earthquake engineer
at UWI also said that Trinidad and Tobago should have country-specific building codes based on the result
of seismic maps done
for this region, and not
on codes that work for foreign countries.
(SP/Trinidad Express)
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