The Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (ICG/CARIBE EWS) was established in 2005 as a subsidiary body of the IOC-UNESCO with the purpose of providing efficient assistance on tsunami risk reduction to Member States in the Caribbean region after the lessons learnt from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The guidelines for the ICG/CARIBE EWS activities are compiled in the CARIBE EWS Implementation Plan
Officers
Chairperson
Dr.rer.nat. Silvia Chacón-Barrantes (Professor and Researcher, Sistema Nacional de Monitoreo de Tsunamis, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica)
Vice-chairpersons
Ms Mary Luz Rengifo Buitrago (Responsable Centro de Monitoreo Amenazas de Origen Marino, Dirección General Marítima, DIMAR, Colombia)
Mr Jasen Penn (Emergency Communications Officer,Department of Disaster Management, British Virgin Islands)
Mr Gerard Metayer (Responsable du Dossier Tsunami,Service Maritime et de Navigation d'Haiti, Haiti )
Working Groups
The Intergovernmental Coordination Group meets regularly to establish and implement working plans in the Caribbean region. To address specific technical issues it has formed four working groups:
Working Group 1 – Monitoring and Detection Systems- Chair: M Sc Nestor Luque (Instituto de Geociencias,Universidad de Panama, Panama), Vice-chair for sea level : Dr. Marcelino Hernandez (Instituto de Oceanologia, Cuba), Vice-chair for seismology: Dr. Dan McNamara (U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center, USA).
Working Group 2 – Hazard Assessment-Chair: Mr Nicolas Arcos (Natural Hazards Scientific Data Specialist,NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, USA); Vice-chair: Dr. Alberto Lopez (University of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, USA) - WG 2 website
Working Group 3 – Tsunami Related Services: Chair Mr. Emilio Talavera (Director de Sismologia,Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales, Nicaragua); Vice chair for Technology and communications platform for alerts: Dr Chip McCreery (Pacific Tsunami Warning Center PTWC, USA); Vice-Chair for Protocols for end to end communication and dissemination of warnings: Dr. Elizabeth Vanacore (University of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, USA)
Working Group 4 – Preparedness, Readiness and Resilience – Chair: Ms Christa G. von Hillebrandt-Andrade (Manager US NWS Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program, NOAA, USA), Vice chair (Public awareness): Ms Corrine Leysner (Communications Officer,National Disaster Office, Curacao); Vice-chair (Resilience): Lt Patrick Tyburn (France)