Belize City Earns UNESCO Tsunami Ready Status

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service: “And today is the culmination of eight years. It started in 2018 and culminated this year in 2026. The designation of Belize City as a community that is Tsunami ready. The 23rd such designation in this region so it’s an important day for Belize City and as I said, it took many years for us to get here. But this is really just the beginning of the process because this is all about continuing to be ready, continuing to be prepared, continuing that community engagement, preparedness, education, awareness when it comes to Tsunamis. We have a lot of experience and awareness when it comes to hurricanes but we don’t have as many instances of being aware of earthquakes or Tsunamis. So it’s something that is good that we get this type of education. So there are evacuation areas in Belize City, gathering points. You see the signage throughout the city that has been put up and those are the areas where persons can go and gather and then evacuation routes explain to them how they would go or where they would go in the event of a tsunami. Remember this thing happens very fast. It’s not like a hurricane where you can have early warning, you might have a day or two knowing exactly where that hurricane might go more or less. With a tsunami, if there’s an earthquake in the water and a tsunami it builds up, it happens very fast. So we have to be able to get the information out there, get the warning out there and persons have to be educated. That’s why it’s a continuous process and it’s something that we will continue to do as part of the Ministry of Disaster Risk Management.”

In recognizing the achievement, the Belize City Council expressed gratitude to the City Emergency Management Organization, NEMO, the National Meteorological Service, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the International Tsunami Information Center, NOAA, the United States Government, first responders, uniformed services, community leaders, and residents whose collective efforts made the designation possible. Deputy Director of the International Tsunami Information Center-Caribbean Office, Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade, explained that building a tsunami-ready community goes beyond meeting international standards and depends on continuous public education and preparation to reduce risk and save lives.

Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade, Deputy Director of the International Tsunami Information Center-Caribbean Office: “The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO has established 12 steps for a community to get ready for a tsunami and Belize would have followed these guidelines. And it consisted in, first of all, divided into three areas. One is awareness, preparedness, and response. So Belize in order to receive the recognition of UNESCO IOC as a tsunami-ready community it had to know its threat. It had to map the hazard. Had to know how many people lived or could be affected by the tsunami in Belize City and then also what were the resources? Which resources would it have on hand to respond to a situation like a tsunami? Also then in the area of preparedness, Belize City prepared a tsunami evacuation map, which would indicate the areas that had to be evacuated, the safer areas, and how to get from the hazard zone to those safer areas and areas where people could assemble. Also then they had install signage to inform the public on the evacuation routes and these assembly points. They developed education and outreach material and this material was shared through public and outreach events and a tsunami exercise to test the procedures for responding to a tsunami.”

As Belize City celebrates this international recognition, residents are being encouraged to learn the evacuation routes and assembly points within their communities, stay informed, and respond promptly to emergency alerts.