Events Releases

UWI’s Seismic Research Centre celebrates 60 years

For Release Upon Receipt - January 29, 2013

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago – The Seismic Research Centre (SRU) of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, the official source of information on earthquakes and volcanoes in the English-speaking eastern Caribbean, celebrates 60 years of monitoring seismic activity this year. The year-long celebration kicks off with an opening ceremony on Tuesday 29 January at the centre’s headquarters at Gordon Street, St. Augustine.

Activities to mark this momentous occasion include the REAKT (Real Time Earthquake RisK ReducTion) Meeting; the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) National Primary School Quiz; SRC’s Open House; St. Vincent Volcano Awareness Week; the launch of the new SRC website; Tsunami Smart Barbados; Volcano Children’s Book; and Earth Science Week in Dominica.

The centre grew out of a Colonial Development and Welfare (CDW) project established in 1952 with the objective of monitoring volcanic activity in the Lesser Antilles and providing a trained group of scientists in the West Indies who could react quickly to volcanic emergencies. The Trinidad-based centre became part of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA) in 1957 and was absorbed into the University of the West Indies in 1962, although some funding from CDW and its successor organisations remained until 1972. Within the UWI structure the SRC is placed within the Centre Administration, with the Director of the Centre reporting to the Pro Vice Chancellor for Research.  

During the first period of operation (1952 to 1957) the work of the Centre was extended to include the monitoring of tectonic (non-volcanic) earthquakes, and the non-volcanic islands of Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados and Antigua were included in the system. Jamaica joined in 1957 but withdrew in 1985 to form its own unit.

Today, with a network of more than 50 stations, the SRC remains the authoritative source of information on the status of earthquake and volcanic activity in the English-speaking eastern Caribbean. The current staff complement consists of 10 senior staff members – seven scientific and three professional – supported by 19 technical and clerical research assistants and housekeeping and maintenance staff, plus another six based at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory.

For further information, please contact Stacey Edwards or Monique Johnson via email at info@uwiseismic.com, via telephone at 662-4659 or fax at 663-9293.

END

For the latest UWI News, click http://sta.uwi.edu/news.

About UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with 45 physical site locations across the region, serving 16 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Food & Agriculture, and Social Sciences.

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

Contact