Several localities throughout the region will participate in a tsunami exercise on March 25, 2015; the purpose of which is to evaluate local tsunami response plans, increase tsunami preparedness, and improve coordination throughout the region.
The exercise will simulate a major earthquake and tsunami which will trigger a dummy widespread Tsunami Warnings and Watches throughout the Caribbean allowing for the staged implementation of local tsunami response plans within the participating locations.
According to the handbook disseminated to participants:
Two exercise scenarios are planned. The scenario described in this handbook simulates a tsunami generated by a magnitude 8.5 earthquake located just north of Panama in the southwest Caribbean Sea. The initial dummy messages will be issued by the US Pacific and National Tsunami Warning Centers (PTWC/NTWC) on 25 March 2015 at 14:05 UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) [10:05 Atlantic Standard Time] and disseminated over all their standard broadcast channels. The dummy messages are issued to test communications with Tsunami Warning Focal Points (TWFPs) and Emergency Management Organizations (EMOs), and to start the exercise. It will be the only exercise message broadcast from the PTWC/NTWC, excluding special email messages.
The manual includes the tsunami and earthquake scenario information, time lines, the PTWC/NTWC exercise messages, and a model press release. High levels of vulnerability and risk to life and livelihoods from tsunamis along the Caribbean coast should provide a strong incentive for countries and local jurisdictions to prepare for a tsunami and participate in this exercise.
At 1300 UTC on 25 March 2015, a western Atlantic tsunami exercise will also take place. The scenario will be a landslide offshore Florida which generates a tsunami. This exercise, organized under the framework of the US NTHMP, is open to CARIBE-EWS countries (more information is available at www.caribewave.info).
