Tweet
Major earthquake a certainty: Semaj prepares for inevitable after experience with Haiti
Published: Sunday | June 12, 2011
Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer
In late December 2010, acting director of the Seismic Research Centre of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Dr Joan Latchman, warned Caribbean countries to be prepared for an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0. This was shortly after Trinidad and Tobago was rocked by a 5.1 magnitude quake, and 11 months after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake had wreaked havoc on Haiti.
Latchman said then that while the region had not had a severe earthquake for the previous 100 years, she was predicting that one of magnitude 8.0 could hit the Caribbean any day.
She said: "Our largest earthquake close to Trinidad occurred in 1756, which is more than 200 years ago. The largest one in the Eastern Caribbean occurred in 1843, which is more than a 100 years ago. The region is poised for a large earthquake."
Latchman said that while the Eastern Caribbean has recorded earthquakes in the magnitude 7.1 to 7.5 range "every 20 to 30 years, we have not had that one in the magnitude 8.0 range. That we expect every 100 years".
Jamaica recorded an 8.0 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale on March 1, 1957, its epicentre in Hanover. However, that was not the most famous earthquake in Jamaica, that dubious honour being shared between the June 7, 1692, earthquake which destroyed Port Royal, and the January 14, 1907, earthquake, which destroyed Kingston and Port Royal.
In the 1692 quake, 3,000 persons were killed and two-thirds of Port Royal sank into the sea. In 1907, there were 1,000 deaths, and 85 per cent of the buildings in Kingston and Port Royal were damaged or destroyed.
The first recorded earthquake in Jamaica was in 1687.
News from the University of Austin in Texas' Dr Katherine Ellins last July that a new fault line had been discovered in the Kingston Harbour would not have allayed fears. Plus, two earthquakes in recent months have caused buildings to tremble and people to quake in their shoes, the second on Monday, May 16, measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre 20 kilometres south of Black River, St Elizabeth.
In 2005, Dr Margaret Wiggins-Grandison, then head of the Earthquake Unit at the UWI, Mona, told The Gleaner that it had been a while since Jamaica had had an earthquake. "The more time it takes for us to get a major earthquake, the closer we are to a major one," she said.
Semaj makes plan
Dr Leachim Semaj, psychologist and radio-show host, is prepared for the inevitable after experiencing last year's Haiti earthquake through his interaction with Digicel employees who felt the brunt of the massive movement. "They went to work. The earthquake struck. And for the next week or two they lived in the parking lot," Semaj said. "There was no 'home' to go to."
Even when they were out of the zone of aftershocks, stability was long in coming. "They were totally traumatised, to the point where some of them did not sleep in a bed. They slept on the floor," he said. This was because if a large vehicle passed and the bed shook slightly, they were terrified.
When the Digicel employees went back to Haiti, each had a survival kit and a tent. And learning from their experience, Semaj has a knapsack in his vehicle. He did the required research and put in an 'earthquake kit'. His wife, Cecile, is similarly equipped. "That is the least I believe I should do in terms of being able to learn from what happened to them," he said.
Semaj says he does not speak about a natural disaster, but a natural phenomenon. "It is what we do before, during, and after that makes it a disaster," he said.
He describes his earthquake kit as the "typical backpack children take to school", noting that it must be compact enough so that the owner can carry it around.
"I am sure most people don't think about these things at all," Semaj said. He emphasises that unlike a hurricane, there is no warning with an earthquake. Plus, he says with the way Kingston is accessed by roadway, if Mandela Highway, the road to Harbour View, and the Stony Hill road are blocked, there is hardly any vehicular access.
While awareness is high immediately after an earthquake, Semaj knows that soon after buildings and limbs have ceased quivering, the mindset will return to the comfort zone of 'normality'.
"Unfortunately, most people will think that it (an earthquake kit) is a waste of time. For me, it increases the chances of survival," Leachim Semaj said.
Broken bodies, budgets
Jamaica may not have suffered a high death toll due to an earthquake in recent years, but the island has a long history of deaths, destruction, and rebuilding costs due to the natural phenomenon.
In 1780, Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, is hit not only by an earthquake but also a sea surge and a hurricane.
On June 7, 1692, between 1,500 and 2,000 people were killed in the earthquake that destroyed most of Port Royal, a further 3,000 persons suffering injuries. This was from a population of under 7,000 persons. It was not only the living who were affected; dead bodies and skeletal remains from graves floated into Kingston Harbour.
On January 14, 1907, an earthquake which killed over 800 persons and caused £2 million of damage hit Kingston, a town of some 46,000 persons. It was reported that many of the dead were buried in a mass grave in the May Pen Cemetery, while others were simply burnt.
March 1957, the heaviest earthquake in Jamaica since 1907 affects mostly the western side of the island. Loss of life is minimal, but the St James Parish Church is badly damaged, and is eerily reminiscent of 1692. One hundred and eighty metres of the Port Royal coastline sinks beneath the sea.
Comment