Deputy Director of the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) Kenson Stoddard is urging Vincentians to take the necessary steps to prepare themselves in the event of a tsunami.
Speaking on VC3’s Roundtable Talk, Mr. Stoddard said it was important that persons residing in St. Vincent and the Grenadines familiarize themselves with the information necessary to make preparations for a tsunami possible.
“We should be guided by the events that took place in Tonga a few years ago, so there is a possibility over time that this could present a real threat to us. In fact, we have evidence, in 1939, of small waves generated by eruptions of Kick ‘em Jenny, so we have to be prepared, we have to increase the knowledge, the awareness, we have to increase the knowledge and so on, we have to know what to do, what to look out for. It’s really important for us to get on board with this understanding of tsunamis and how we prepare and how we mitigate,” he said.
He noted that SVG is not immune to threats to livelihood and existence posed by tsunamis, as St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been affected by tsunamis five times throughout its history.
