For a small island state, we sure have a lot going on at all times, never a proverbial dull moment. The big story this week, of course, was the 'Big Shake' or 'Terror Quake'. We had experienced a 6.8 magnitude earthquake which did cause panic and understandably so. Luckily the epicenter was located in rural Venezuela and was recorded as being fairly deep. It did, however, give us here on the Rock and surrounding islands, quite a jolt. There were no known injuries, minor damage to some buildings in the city and some damage to infrastructure in rural Trinidad.
The commentary about the earthquake ranged from the people's evil ways, adult toys, the ruling party, LBGT, His wrath, and a host of other reasons none having to do with the fact that we are located not too far from the edge of a fault line and nearly every island in the Caribbean has had major seismic activity. Port Royal in Jamaica was destroyed in 1692, Port au Prince in Haiti in 2010, countless records of major volcanic activity - Soufriere, Pelee, Kick-em-Jenny, we still have volcanoes that are active in the region.
As a young boy reading about Port Royal the story spoke of the place going very quiet, the birds disappeared and then the quake struck. People have tried every which way to predict an earthquake but it cannot be predicted. There is no scientific method of determining where and when the earth will move. It does not exist. Going quiet and birds disappearing, dogs barking, fish floating upside down is not a scientifically proven fact. Every time the media prints a story about a learned professor making the statement about 'we are due for a big one' I wonder what in tarnation is going on? Did the Prof actually say this or are we speculating because it makes a great headline, sensationalism at the media's best and it leads to panic amongst the population?
The search for precursory signals in ULF magnetic data has been thoroughly pursued for decades with little progress toward practical results, the authors conclude. (Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, doi:10.1002/2015JA021336, 2015).
What this is saying is simple. You cannot predict an earthquake!
What we should be dealing with are the real issues on the Rock. Every day we are between 2-4 persons being murdered. With a body count of 351 as of today that keeps us in the top five places on this very shaky earth.
With the appointment of a new Comish, we are waiting and hoping to see real change. I am sure that it will happen.
The Minister of Finance makes the statement that he does not know what an adult toy is! This after being questioned by the media on the now famous ban on adult toys by the Customs Div of the Ministry of Finance. The Rock is ranked, like the murder rate, among the top five countries in the world who view internet porn.
If it takes the PMOTT one week to apologize for something he had previously dismissed as being 'foolish' and his apprentice saying that ' it was just fun' then is the apology genuine?
The earthquake changed the conversation on the Rock for sure. Not a word about a collapsed air bridge, sea bridge, murders, bribery and corruption, Greg Norman, failing economy and other boring things.
Keep cool people of the Rock, hold steady, keep your feet on the ground (if possible), good night and good luck!
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