KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) has committed $1.24 million to fund workshops to train teachers of the schools that will be a part of the Jamaica Educational Seismograph Network (JAESN).

Five schools have so far committed to having seismographs placed in their locations.

These include Jamaica College, Ardenne High, Mount Alvernia High, Immaculate Conception High, and the Jamaica American International School of Kingston.

This network will become a part of the global Seismographs in Schools Programme, managed by the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), based in the United States.

“If you are a school in Kingston and an earthquake happens in South America, you can share your data with somebody in Texas or somebody in Venezuela,” Fulbright Scholar, based at the Earthquake Unit at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Katherine Ellins, said at a recent JIS ‘Think Tank’.

Scientific officer responsible for information and education at the Earthquake Unit at the UWI, Mona, Karlene Black, explained the significance of the network to the students.

“The seismographs will be there to help them learn how the instruments work, detect earthquakes and even possibly facilitate the Earthquake Unit by providing additional data,” she noted.

In the meantime, the Earthquake Unit is trying to get two additional schools to come on board the JAESN.

Once the schools have committed to being a part of the programme, they will  purchase the seismograph, and the Earthquake Unit assists with the setting-up of the machine and, with the help of ODPEM, trains the teachers.

The Earthquake Unit will also be encouraging teachers who have been trained, to pass their knowledge on to other teachers, and students as well as the wider community.

The unit is mandated to perform research and monitoring activities where earthquakes are concerned, and work closely with ODPEM to provide technical as well as scenario planning support.