By Sue-Ann Wayow
PRIME Minister Dr Keith Rowley has been honoured by the University of the West Indies (UWI) Seismic Research Centre (SRC).
He was honoured on Wednesday at the UWI St Augustine campus as the First Caribbean-born, UWI-trained scientist to be appointed Head of the Seismic Research Centre, as the SRC celebrated its 70th anniversary.
Dr Rowley was the feature speaker at the event, themed Honouring Legacies & Fostering the Future and spent some time reminiscing about his days at the University.
In congratulating the Centre on the milestone achieved, he said, “This is a legacy not only to be cherished by those directly involved but to be nourished by every student who enters and claims UWI as alma mater. It also should be a beacon and an imprimatur for every lecturer and researcher in every single department, with a motto that says Oriens Occidente, that light shining in the west. We are all rays in that great beam. Let us all endeavour to keep shining.”
Dr Rowley said the history of the SRC was rooted in applied science, with the function being to provide a seismological and volcanological service to the English-speaking Eastern Caribbean, by keeping the governments advised about all matters relating to seismic and volcanic hazards.
For decades, the SRC has practised operational volcano and earthquake forecasting using both conventional strategies and techniques developed in-house.
Dr Rowley said geologist and seismologists still believe that once an event has occurred, it could happen again and was just a matter of time as to when.
“If we accept that, then it follows that with each passing day, we are one day nearer to the occurrence of the next event. It allows follows therefore that the further back since the last event, the nearer we are to the next event and such is the environment in which earthquake and volcano prediction or management of specific events is rooted,” he said.
Notable attendees were UWI’s St. Augustine campus Principal Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine and UWI’s chancellor Robert Bermudez, Senate President Nigel de Freitas, Minister of Education, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and other government ministers.
