Week 5 Post: Volcanic Hazards in Jamaica

Hi everyone! Welcome to my Week 5 Blog Post. :) 

Jamaica does not have any active volcanoes, but interestingly it is believed to have been formed as a result of prehistoric volcanic activity. More specifically, scientists presume that over 40 million years ago, Jamaica was was created as a result of an underwater volcanic eruption! 

Jamaica Map Images – Browse 6,440 Stock Photos, Vectors, and Video | Adobe Stock

Although Jamaica does not have any volcanic activity, the eastern region of the Caribbean does. According to the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center, the islands of the Eastern Caribbean, or Lesser Antilles, form a curved chain of volcanic islands along the eastern margin of the Caribbean Sea. This chain of volcanic islands are referred to as an "island arc," but only the western arc is active. Furthermore, the Lesser Antilles has 21 volcanoes that are likely to erupt again, all of which are dispersed across 11 volcanically active islands. In the Eastern Caribbean region, volcanic eruptions are one of the most threatening hazards, killing 30,000 people in the last 200 years. Additionally, 1 million people are threatened by the effects of volcanoes, and around 2.5 million by phenomena related to volcanic eruptions such as ash fall. 

Map of the Lesser Antilles island arc showing islands in the active... | Download Scientific Diagram

The Education and Outreach Team at the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center works to raise public awareness of geological hazards in the Eastern Caribbean. Their communication program has supported scientists' public communication, sustained stakeholder engagement, built physical and social science capacity, and strengthened organization capacity. Due to the fact that volcanic activity is infrequent, civil authorities as well as the public may not be entirely prepared to deal with them, which is why it important for the UWI-SRC to increase communication and outreach efforts. 


References: 

https://www.my-island-jamaica.com/are_there_volcanoes_in_jamaica.html   

https://uwiseismic.com/volcanoes/caribbean-volcanoes/ 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.907559/full 


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