Friday, November 10, 2017

Page 13

Local NewsThe Grenadian Voice

Hurricanes delay Grenada’s observance of World Tsunami Awareness DayT

he recent passage of hurricanes Irma
and Maria has delayed
Grenada’s planning toobserve World Tsunami Awareness Day(November 05).
According to theActing Disaster
Management
Coordinator, Samantha
Dickson, the National
Disaster Management
Agency (NaDMA) had
plans to host a recognition event for theTsunami ReadyProgramme in the
Northern coast area on
Sunday November 05 but plans changed as
the team from Puerto
Rico is now expected
to arrive in Grenada
the last week in
November, to continue
the planning process.
She said the planning will be done witha hope that the recognition event can behosted in early January
2018.
Coordinator
Dickson recalled thatearlier in 2017,

NaDMA participatedin the regional activity,"Caribe Wave," andreached about 21, 000
persons via email and200, 000 via texts,
which were sent out by
three telecommunications providers. In
addition, 1000 persons
evacuated during theexercise - in the northern coast andCarriacou. She
explained that this was
the education andawareness component
that has continued intothe Tsunami ReadyProgramme, which isfunded by USAID to
the tune of US$40, 000.
A tsunami is a chainof huge waves createdby disturbance createdunderwater. Thesewaves are normallyassociated with earthquakes taking place
under or around theocean.
In regards to
Grenada’s ongoing
drive to bring abouttsunami awareness,
Mrs Dickson told The
Grenadian Voice that

The Website said
that during the 500year period of written
Caribbean history, tsunamis have inflicted asmall amount of losses
compared to otherhazards such as windstorms, earthquakes
and volcanic activity.

Acting Disaster Management Coordinator,
Samantha Dickson“the northern coast is a
According to inforstart - there will bemation from thehouse to house educaUniversity of the Westtion, village meetings,
Indies (UWI) Seismic
continued participaResearch Centre webtion in activities likesite, in the past 500
Caribe Wave, erecyears, there have beention of billboards and10 confirmed earthlabeling of evacuation
quake-generated tsuroutes. The northernnamis in thecoast will be the start
Caribbean Basin withand then the Agency
four causing fatalities.
has to seek funding to
An estimated 350 peoroll out similar activiple in the Caribbean
ties throughout thewere killed by thesecountry.”
events.

The Research Centre
said the Eastern
Caribbean islands lie
in a setting wheremajor structuralchanges are occurringin the Earth’s crust. All
known sources capableof causing tsunamis(that is, earthquakes,volcanic eruptions,landslides) occur within striking distance of
the Eastern Caribbean,
and there are also distant sources across theAtlantic. Since theislands lie in an area ofrelatively high earthquake activity for theCaribbean, the most
likely tsunamis toaffect the Eastern
Caribbean are thosewhich can be triggeredby shallow earthquakes(<50km depth), in theregion, greater thanmagnitude 6.5.
In December 2015,
the United Nations
General Assembly designated November 05
as World Tsunami
Awareness Day to create awareness amongst
people about the risks
associated with thetsunami, the preventive measures to betaken and to reduce
the number of affected
people when a tsunami
strikes.
World Tsunami
Awareness Day is thebrainchild of Japan,
which due to its
repeated experiences,
has over the years built
up major expertise inareas such as tsunami
early warning, publicaction and buildingback better after adisaster to reduce
future impacts.
Since the Great East
Japan Earthquake andTsunami in 2011, local
governments in Japan
have been supporting
projects for group relocation. Homes which
are vulnerable to tsu-namis are no longer
being built; and maps,
evacuation routes andtsunami evacuation
towers are being erected.
In addition, Japanhas pledged $1.5 million for tsunami
awareness and disasterrisk information in
Asia-Pacific to improvedisaster risk information and carry out tsunami-awareness programmes in schools
across the Asia-Pacificregion. With this support, United Nations
Development
Programme (UNDP)
will be able to help
strengthen early warning and disaster preparedness in 18 countries included inUNDP’s ‘5-10-50’ initiative: Bangladesh,
Cambodia, Fiji,
Indonesia, Malaysia,Maldives, Myanmar,Pakistan, Papua New
Guinea, Philippines,
Samoa, Solomon
Islands, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Timor Leste,
Tonga, Vanuatu andViet Nam.

Guy Fawkes remembered in Morne JalouxT

he effigy of GuyFawkes wasagain traditionally burned on abonfire, after somemoments of merrimentin Morne Jaloux. The
name Fawkes became
synonymous with aGunpowder Plot, thefailure of which has
been commemorated
in Britain since November 5, 1605.
The celebration of
the death of the man
who was part of a plan
to assassinate KingJames 1 to restore a
Catholic monarch to
the throne, was started
by a British citizen
who resided in Morne
Jaloux many years ago
during the colonialperiod. Shopkeepers
and villagers look forward to the celebration
every year asNovember rolls in. In
true carnival style anddancing to the music ofCommancheros steelband, the figure is carried through the street
to the cemetery where

it is burnt.
This year the celebration was without two
key people -Jenifer
Mitchell –Bartholomew who was
the village seamstressresponsible for making
a new suit every year
for Guy Fawkes. She
passed away recently.
Her husband who also
passed away about twoyears ago was in chargeof dancing the effigy
through the street.
The story of Guido
Fawkes who is now
commonly known as
Guy Fox, dates back to
April 13 when he wasborn in York. His
father died when he
was eight years old,
after which his mothermarried a recusant
Catholic. Fawkes converted to Catholicism
and left for the continent, where he foughtin the Eighty Years'
War on the side of
Catholic Spain against
Protestant Dutch
reformers in the Low

The late Jenifer Mitchell-Bartholomew
and her husband
Countries. He travelled
to Spain to seek support for a Catholic
rebellion in England
without success. He
later met Thomas
Wintour, with whom
he returned to England.

Wintour introduced
Fawkes to RobertCatesby, who planned
to assassinate the King.
The plotters leased anundercroft beneath theHouse of Lords, andFawkes was placed in

The effigy of Guido Fawkes in Morne Jalouxof November 5, andcharge of the gunpowJanuary 31, 1606,
found Fawkes guarding Fawkes fell from theder they stockpiled
there. Prompted by the the explosives. Overscaffold where he was
the next few days, hereceipt of an anonyto be hanged andmous letter, the author- was questioned andbroke his neck, thus
tortured and eventually avoiding the agony ofities searchedconfessed. Immediately the mutilation that folWestminster Palace
before his execution on lowed.
during the early hours