The Barbados Meteorological Service (BMS) will activate emergency alerts through its BMS Insight App on Thursday, March 19th as part of the annual Carib Wave tsunami preparedness exercise. Between 11:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., the MET Office will test its notification system with four separate alerts featuring both visual and textual indicators to distinguish them from actual emergencies.
Deputy Director Brian Murray clarified that the Carib Wave initiative represents a coordinated regional effort orchestrated by the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) in collaboration with multiple intergovernmental agencies. This annual event, consistently scheduled for the third Thursday of March, serves as a critical mechanism for evaluating and refining tsunami response protocols across participating Caribbean nations.
The comprehensive testing regimen will include evacuation drills at multiple educational institutions. Students from Deacons Primary, Eagle Hall Primary, and St. Leonard’s Boys’ Secondary will participate in simulated emergency procedures based on a hypothetical eruption scenario from the Kick ’em Jenny submarine volcano.
This year’s exercise supports Barbados’ strategic objective of achieving ‘Tsunami Ready’ certification for all coastal communities by 2030. This ambition aligns with the United Nations Ocean Decade (2021-2030) framework, a global initiative spearheaded by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission that promotes international collaboration in ocean science and policy development.
Authorities emphasize that all test messages will be clearly marked with the designation ‘EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE’ at both the beginning and conclusion of each transmission to prevent public concern. Residents who have not yet subscribed to the BMS Insight App’s notification system are encouraged to download the application via the Google Play Store to receive future emergency alerts.