OR/15/032 Appendix 7 Text boxes

Mee K, Duncan M J. 2015. Increasing resilience to natural hazards through crowd-sourcing in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. British Geological Survey Internal Report, OR/15/32.

Box 1: Is there a need for a monitoring App? A key stakeholder perspective Biography of Dr Richard Robertson. '(Source: UWI SRC website http://www.uwiseismic.com/StaffProfile.aspx?id=20') Originally from St. Vincent, Dr Richard Robertson joined the staff at the Seismic Research Centre in 1993 after serving for six years as Head of the local volcano‐monitoring unit in St. Vincent (the Soufriere Monitoring Unit). Since joining the Seismic Research Centre he has been involved in a variety of projects including: the ongoing eruption of the Soufrière Hills Volcano on Montserrat; the establishment of volcano monitoring networks (mainly geodetic) and ongoing public education and outreach programs throughout the Eastern Caribbean. He served several tours of duty as Chief Scientist of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory during the period 1995–1999 and was its Director from October 1998 — March 1999. Dr Robertson served as Head of the Seismic Research Unit during the period 2004–2008 and as Director of the Seismic Research Centre from 2008–2011. For the period September 2011 to July 2013 Dr. Robertson served as a Geologist/Volcanologist at the SRC while on sabbatical, after which he resumed duties as its Director. In St. Augustine, Dr Robertson has assisted with the field supervision and lecturing of geoscience students. He was one of the editors of the Volcanic Hazards Atlas for the Lesser Antilles. Since 2008 he has been the main coordinator of the SRC and IPGP operations at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. Which data would be of use? Dr Robertson emphasised that data collected by people during eruptions is key — we can compare the public’s collection of ash with an SRC point of validation. Other data, such as that relating to people and impacts is also of use, particularly to the emergency management teams like NEMO. It would be of great interest to us for the app to encourage people to measure unrest, but to also link to other hazards, particularly hydro‐meteorological hazards — landslides, for instance, are under‐measured. Who should collect these data?' There may be key people within the community to work with and it is important to discourage people from putting themselves in danger in order to collect data. There is a need to balance understanding with risk taking. Who would validate these data? SRC are willing to do this. They already see themselves in having a key role in quelling rumours. Who is the App useful for/how is it useful? It is necessary to build in something useful for the community, for instance education material including videos of hazards (SRC have existing videos). SRC are planning to share more data on their website, which the App could then link to.

Box 2: Volcanic alert levels for St Vincent There exists an alert level system (based on seismic data) for St Vincent used to describe the state of activity at the volcano and is only communicated once a particular threshold is reached. However, during an ongoing eruption or a period of significantly elevated activity, the alert level would be regularly communicated. Information about the volcanic activity level is communicated by the SRC to the civil protection agency, which in the case of St Vincent is NEMO, after which the information is provided to the public through all available media. What is the protocol if volcanic unrest increases? Response is guided by an Alert Level Table, which outlines actions to be taken by Scientific Staff and Civil Authorities. Generally response to an unrest involves increased/intensification of monitoring with additional measurements and instruments deployed, increased site visits and providing of advice to civil authorities via regular Scientific Advisories. Response will depend on the signals derived from monitoring sites. Communications with local authorities is normally via the National Disaster Coordinator but there is allocation for contacting the highest office on the island if though necessary by the SRC monitoring team. What is the protocol at the onset of an eruption? Immediately prior to the onset of eruption a temporary observatory would be established on the island staffed by persons from the SRC and any local equivalent group that exists. Generally the Director of the SRC would be in charge of operations and staff and equipment will be deployed on island as deemed necessary to provide real‐time monitoring and advice to local authorities. Source: [Brown et al., 2015a] [Additional info from our conversation with Richie: Probably would have regular web updates if eruption happened.]

Box 3: The History of Emergency Management in St Vincent A summary of disaster management in the Caribbean is provided by Poncelet (1997) and outlined here. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s disaster management in the region was based on ad hoc response to disasters. This changed, however, after a number of destructive hazard events in 1979. First, the costly volcanic eruption on St. Vincent, in addition to Hurricane David which devastated Dominica and the Dominican Republic resulting in over 200 000 people being made homeless and more than US$1 billion in damage. On Dominica 56 percent of structures were damaged. These disasters led to a more regional approach to disaster management and the creation of the Pan Caribbean Disaster Preparedness Program in 1981 (later called the Pan Caribbean Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Program PCDPPP). The initiative lasted around 10 years under the guidance of a number of regional and international organisations including the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the Red Cross, UNDRO, and the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). However, the limited success of the PCDPPP became evident at the end of the decade when in 1988 Hurricane Gilbert devastated Jamaica and in 1989 Hurricane Hugo severely damaged Montserrat. In 1991 CARICOM states replaced the PCDPPP with CDERA — the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency — which had a stronger institutional position than the PCDPPP. In 2009, CDERA was changed to CDEMA (the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency) with idea that it would both replace and advance the work of CDERA by adopting the principles and practice of Comprehensive Disaster Management — ‘an integrated and proactive approach…[that] seeks to reduce the risk and loss associated with natural and technological hazards and the effects of climate change to enhance regional development’ (CARICOM, 20110) Each island has a disaster management agency. Initially the role of disaster manager was a part time job undertaken by someone with additional duties in the government. On St. Vincent the disaster agency is called NEMO (National Emergency Management Organisation), which is staffed by full-time employees. Other ministries such as transport and works, and telecommunications, are theoretically involved in national level disaster planning and management through several subcommittees, however, according to officials at NEMO they do not all recognize the importance of disaster planning and are not as active in the subcommittees as NEMO would like. At the local level disaster management is coordinated through community disaster groups across the island, of which there are over 20. These comprise of members of the community who hold jobs such as farmers, teachers, etc., that meet to assess the hazards specific to their community. In response to the risk from these hazards the groups create plans to respond to a hazard should it occur. These local groups are supported by NEMO, however in the same way as government ministries are not all active in disaster management; some community disaster groups are more active than others. Formally, the roles and responsibilities of the government ministries and community disaster groups and the structure for preparedness and response to disasters are outlined in the National Emergency and Disaster Management Act 2006, and the National Disaster Plan (NEMO, 2004). Source: adapted from Lowe (2010) [mostly verbatim]