Earthquake Awareness Activities in Westmoreland

The Westmoreland Municipal Corporation is spearheading several disaster-preparedness activities for schools and businesses across the parish in observance of Earthquake Awareness Week and for the entire month of January.

The week of observance from January 8 to 12 will see ODPEM heightening its public-education campaign under the theme ‘Drop, Cover, Hold… Earthquake Readiness Is Within Your Control’.

Disaster Coordinator for Westmoreland, Marcine Campbell-Kerr, said that “so far we have visited one school, but we have a number of schools that we will be visiting to do sensitisation sessions as well as drills”.

A drill is scheduled for New Hope Primary School on Friday (January 13), which is being observed as National Earthquake Drill Day.

“We have a display board outside (the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation building) that persons can come see and collect [reading material] if they so desire. We also have a display board at the parish library as well as a virtual monitor explaining what an earthquake is, what causes it and what you should do in the event of an earthquake,” Mr. Campbell-Kerr informed.

She was addressing the monthly meeting of the municipal corporation on Thursday (January 12).

Mr. Campbell-Kerr noted that unlike a hurricane, persons cannot predict when an earthquake will occur.

“We can’t say it is a few days out; we are unable to say when it is coming. So, we are trying our best to sensitise as much as possible and we are taking it to the businesses and we are taking it to the schools,” she said.

Mrs. Campbell-Kerr noted that students have been receiving the information well so far and are more knowledgeable about earthquakes.

“Our children are very brilliant when it comes to earthquakes. They may not know the geographical risks and the [lithospheric dynamics], but they know what to do should an earthquake occur,” she pointed out.

For persons who are wheelchair users, Mrs. Campbell-Kerr is advising them to “lock the chair, duck, cover and hold on to their heads and necks should an earthquake happen”.

She told JIS News that more persons are taking earthquake preparedness seriously.

“With climate change and so forth, we are now expecting and preparing for anything,” she noted.