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In March 2024, an evacuation exercise for Gustavia's schools was organized as part of the Carib Wave program. Clusters of schoolchildren took refuge on the heights to escape the approach of a fictitious tsunami. This Thursday, another Carib Wave exercise took place in the late morning. However, there was no evacuation of schools or colleges. It was "only" a test of all the warning vectors installed on the island.
Lieutenant Thierry Brin of the Service territorial d'incendie et de secours explains: "The purpose of this exercise was to test the sirens, in particular the new one installed on the maneuvering tower of the new Stis fire station. All the loudspeakers were also activated, around schools and local authority premises. "At the same time, automatic messages were broadcast on the radio. Messages were also published on the Collectivité's Facebook page. "The Cedralis system also made it possible to send messages by SMS, and a feature of the Collectivité territoriale application was tested," explains Matthieu Péroche.cises Matthieu Péroche, a lecturer at Montpellier's Paul Valéry University, who is working on the development of the Safe Saint-Barth project in Saint-Barthélemy.
Following this exercise, a questionnaire is submitted to the population for their opinion on the effectiveness of the system (clarity of information disseminated, good reception of messages, etc.). "It's important that we have feedback," insists Lieutenant Brin. This information will enable Stis and the Centre opérationnel territorial to improve the alert system. The questionnaire can be accessed via the attached QR code.
A conference-debate this Friday
This Friday, from 7 to 9 pm, the tsunami risk will again be on the agenda. This time, a conference-debate will be held in the main hall of Gustavia's harbor master's office. It will begin with the screening of a documentary film produced by the CNRS (Centre national de recherche scientifique) on the tsunami that hit Indonesia in December 2004. "It was this event that triggered all the studies on the subject, and led to the implementation of preventive measures", explains Matthieu Péroche. The academic will then lead the debate and answer questions from participants, accompanied by Lieutenant Thierry Brin.
