EDUCATION & OUTREACH

Lectures & Tours

Tours of the Seismic Research Unit are currently conducted at the Unit's headquarters in St. Augustine, Trinidad twice per month for schools (4th Form and up) and other interested groups. Depending on the availability of scientists, off-site lectures can also be arranged. Contact Stacey Edwards to schedule a visit or lecture.

At the Seismic Research Unit we recognise the important role of sound public education programmes in creating prepared communities. Effective action during an emergency can only be achieved if the public is made fully aware, in advance, of the nature of the hazard, the consequent risks and what can be done to reduce these risks. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes share the common feature that they happen fairly infrequently but when they do happen the consequences can be devastating. By unfortunate coincidence the mean interval between such disasters is roughly comparable with one human lifetime so that the memory of the previous event would have just about faded from public consciousness when the next one occurs. Maintaining public preparedness for geologic disasters through the long, quiescent periods presents a significant challenge.

The Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project (CDMP) demonstrated that there is often a considerable gap between the perception of the level of a geologic hazard in the scientific community and the perception of that same hazard by the general public. The comparative figures for deaths caused by volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis in the Eastern Caribbean clearly indicate that geologic hazards should be taken as seriously as hurricane hazards.

Be informed.....be prepared