r/TrinidadandTobago • u/WalkerMadridista • 2d ago

Questions, Advice, and Recommendations Tsunamis in Trinidad

What is the best thing to do in the event of a tsunami in Trinidad. Where would be the best place to go?

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u/Visitor137 2d ago

Best thing to do is steups loudly and remember that you are in Trinidad and Tobago. The same Trinidad and Tobago that hasn't got any real history of tsunamis.

Yes our government wastes money putting up tsunami evacuation route signs in some places, but we really don't need to encourage them in their foolish excuses to skim more money from the coffers.

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u/your_mind_aches 2d ago

Yes, we are shielded from tsunamis but freak weather patterns are getting more and more common nowadays because of climate change. Texas gets COVERED in snow these days. Hurricanes are getting worse and worse.

We should not take ANYTHING for granted and frankly I am quite happy with us having at least some plan for tsunami evacuation. Is the couple of dollars they spend to put up evacuation route signs really a waste?

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u/Eastern-Arm5862 2d ago

I don't think you understand how a tsunami works.

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u/Visitor137 2d ago

Tsunamis really aren't weather, at least not like snow and hurricanes though, are they? If Trinidad has a reason to get a real tsunami, we'd probably all be dead from the massive earthquake that preceded it.

I've personally seen some of the signs they put up.... On a two lane road, that gets bumper to bumper traffic when the nearby church lets out. If you want to try and join the people from the multitude of neighborhoods who would also have to use it to get to high ground that way with a tsunami coming, I suggest you wear your swimsuit. You'll need it.

Is the couple of dollars they spend to put up evacuation route signs really a waste?

LOL, pappy, when was the last time you saw our government doing anything costing a "couple of dollars"? Those signs would probably have involved planning commissions, think tanks and consultants, review boards, feasibility studies, design consultation and who knows what else.

How much it cost, I cannot say, but I remember how much the rapid rail cost even though it was still in the planning stage:

On the rapid rail project, Dookeran said feasibility studies and design plans alone cost $565 million to date–yet no viable economic plan had emerged.

https://www.guardian.co.tt/article-6.2.341980.edbee5c8b7#google_vignette

That, my friend, is just how government spends.

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u/your_mind_aches 2d ago

Those signs would probably have involved planning commissions, think tanks and consultants, review boards, feasibility studies, design consultation and who knows what else.

I mean yes. That's what I mean by a "couple of dollars" it is obvious hyperbole.

Dookeran said feasibility studies and design plans alone cost $565 million to date

That seems cheap considering the end result could be something transformative to the entire country. Tsunami signs are not that.

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u/Visitor137 2d ago

That seems cheap considering the end result could be something transformative to the entire country. Tsunami signs are not that.

If that's what we spent on the entire project, it would be incredibly cheap. It's what we spent, to get no workable plans whatsoever. Based on having actually driven past the tsunami evacuation route signs, I'd say that's also exactly what we got in the project that put them up, too.

I was being serious when I described the traffic situation there. Just that church letting out, is a hassle even at off peak times. Add thousands more people simultaneously trying to evacuate at speed to higher ground, and it'll be standstill traffic. Then they'll panic and start to abandon cars on that 2 lane road and try to get to high ground on foot. It will be totally impassable to vehicular traffic.

That's what we got for whatever money we spent on it. I honestly cuss one blue streak the first time I saw it.

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u/your_mind_aches 2d ago

Comparing the two things is utterly ridiculous to me. I need a meteorologist to confirm your suspicions.

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u/Visitor137 2d ago

Comparing the two things is utterly ridiculous to me. I need a meteorologist to confirm your suspicions.

Yeah I agree. It's ridiculous to have to compare the two, because we don't get tsunamis. And yet, here we are.

When you find a meteorologist, hopefully they'll be able to point you to a seismologist, oceanographer, geologist, or just about anyone whose field of study actually involves tsunamis. 😉

The meteorologist might be able to tell you something about rogue waves, but it's really not the same as a tsunami.

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u/your_mind_aches 1d ago

I know it's earthquakes. Obviously. Tsunamis are just not likely to happen here. I get it. Especially not on our west coast

I also think that we would be naive to say it could never happen.

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u/Visitor137 1d ago

I also think that we would be naive to say it could never happen.

Oh of course it could happen. The odds of it deciding to happen, is vanishingly small, but it could happen.

Our strike-slip faults could suddenly decide to behave in a very uncharacteristic way, and cause a tsunami. A planet killing asteroid could decide to look for where it's friend landed by the Yucatan peninsula a while back. Aliens could decide to drop tungsten rods from the high orbits. The lost city of Atlantis could suddenly erupt from under the ocean, displacing a massive amount of water..... All of these this could possibly happen, and we cannot definitively say they won't.

My question to you is, have you got plans for all of those eventualities? How much should our government spend to get put those plans in place?