Caribbean Tsunami Watch

In the interim, following discussions that began at the International Conference for the Development of a Tsunami and Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean Sea and Adjacent Regions 1-3 June 2005 in Mexico City, Mexico (organized by the UNESCO IOC IOCARIBE Sub-Commission jointly with the UN-ISDR, WMO, UNEP CAR-CU) and continued at the 1st Session of the ICG/CARIBE-EWS in January 2006, the US NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) agreed to provide limited early warning services to the countries in the Caribbean Sea and Adjacent Regions (CARIBE-EWS). The US NOAA National Tsunami Warning Center (US NTWC) provides warning services for the continental United States, eastern Coast of Canada, Puerto and the US and British Virgin Islands, and serves as the backup to the PTWC.

Currently, real or near real-time sea level data are insufficient to quickly detect if a tsunami exists nor measure its size from all the potential Caribbean source regions.  However, new deep ocean gauges were deployed in 2007 and 2008 and new coastal gauges are being planned for installation to improve detection coverage.