... ‘PEOPLE TOOK IT SERIOUSLY’
At least one school in the Old Harbour Bay area reported a lower-than-usual turnout yesterday as residents had no time to prepare children for the day’s classes because of Tuesday night’s tsunami scare.
Sergeant Henry Parkins, who assumed shift duties at the Old Harbour Bay Police Station early yesterday morning, said that he was happy that evacuation procedures were followed, even without an official order.
“The people really took it seriously and for that I am happy. The procedures regarding emergency evacuation in case of a tsunami were obviously followed, and as the police, we couldn’t ask for more,” he said.
Jamaica sits in an active earthquake zone and has experienced several of these natural disasters in the past, including the June 7, 1692, earthquake that destroyed sections of Port Royal, sending a large portion of the once ‘wickedest city on earth’ to the bottom of the sea. The earthquake triggered a tsunami.
In 1780, in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, an earthquake occurred during a hurricane and the sea rose to a height of three metres from the beach and swept away a number of houses. Ten people were killed by the wave and about 300 more by the storm. All vessels in the bay were dashed to pieces or driven onshore. One came to rest near the courthouse on Great George Street nearly half a mile inland.