Dominican Republic in tsunami warning exercise

Santo Domingo.- A large-scale tsunami response exercise will take place in the Caribbean on 17 March aimed at advancing tsunami preparedness efforts in the Caribbean and Adjacent regions, based on Venezuela and Northern Hispaniola scenarios.

Two exercise scenarios are planned. The first one simulates a tsunami generated by a magnitude 8.4 earthquake located in Venezuela, in the southern Caribbean Sea. The second scenario is a tsunami generated by a magnitude 8.7 earthquake located in North of Hispaniola, in the Atlantic Ocean.

The initial dummy messages will be issued by the US Pacific and National Tsunami Warning Centers (PTWC) on March 17, 2016 at 1400 UTC (Venezuela) and at 1500 UTC (Northern Hispaniola) and disseminated over all their standard broadcast channels.

The dummy messages are issued to test communications with Tsunami Warning Focal Points and National Tsunami Warning Centers, and to start the exercise. Each country and territory will further decide if and how to disseminate messages within its areas of responsibility.

Tthe System of Alert against Tsunamis and other Threats to the Coasts of the Caribbean and Surrounding Regions was created in 2005 and is sponsored by Unescos’s Intergovernment Oceanographic Commission (IOC).