Full-scale simulated tsunami alert in Caribbean Following the
devastating tsunami that struck Japan, 33 countries* are
preparing to participate on 23 March in the first full-scale
simulated tsunami alert exercise in the Caribbean. The goal is
to test the Tsunami and other Coastal Hazards Warning System for
the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions, which was established in
2005 by the countries of the region in collaboration with
UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).
According to the scenario developed by the organizers** of the
exercise, countries in the Caribbean will receive an alert on 23
March concerning a fictitious earthquake of 7.6 magnitude off
the coast of the American Virgin Islands. Bulletins will be
issued by the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (United
States) for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and by the
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Ewa Beach (Hawaii, US)
for the rest of the area. The exercise, named Caribe Wave 11,
does not involve communities. It aims to