TEMA: 33 reports of quake damage

The Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) received 33 reports of damage to buildings as a result of last week Tuesday’s 6.9 earthquake, including the Police Station in Scarborough which suffered several hairline cracks.

TEMA’s Director Allan Stewart said the reports have been forwarded to the Division of Infrastructure for assessment.

“We had 33 reports that were actually identified, 27 of which were residential properties, two commercial and four institutional. (For) Twelve of them (damage) was found to be very high and required a certain level of engineering input in terms of the assessment.

“These reports are at the relevant department … for them to do a more in-depth analysis of what exactly the needs would be in bringing those properties back to order,” said Stewart.

He said damage included hairline cracks and areas that would involve with occupational health and safety.

“The institutional buildings like the Police Station in Scarborough, there were reports of several hairline cracks. Because of the nature of the institution, you had to treat it differently and do an in-depth analysis …to confirm whether it is structurally sound for their business continuity purposes,” Stewart said.

He said 25 locations across Tobago were impacted by the earthquake, including Scarborough, Moriah, Mason Hall, Glen Road, Plymouth, Bacolet, Louis D’or, Carnbee, Crown Point, Pump Mill, Mt Grace, Canaan and Rockly Vale.

Stewart also urged citizens to pay attention to safety measures at all times.

“Persons need to ensure that their surroundings, from three different levels - residential property, we need to ensure that we do the necessary inspections to our homes to ensure that it is very safe. That things like furniture and furnishings are placed in a place that they cannot topple in the case of an event,” he said.

He said the same procedures must be applied to commercial buildings, and in the workplace, a proper evacuation plan must be established, that muster points must be clearly known in the event of an earthquake and what are the protocols involved.