Mitigation - Disaster Mitigation Guidelines for Hospitals and other Health Care Facilities in the Caribbean (Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) / Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS), 1992, 76 p.): Chapter 2: The nature of natural hazards in commonwealth Caribbean countries: Volcanoes

Mitigation - Disaster Mitigation Guidelines for Hospitals and other Health Care Facilities in the Caribbean (Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) / Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS), 1992, 76 p.)

Chapter 2: The nature of natural hazards in commonwealth Caribbean countries

		Introduction
		General definitions
		Earthquakes
		Volcanoes
		Hurricanes
		Floods

Volcanoes

Table 2.3 shows the active volcanoes in the Caribbean region, and their associated hazards and periodicity over the last 10,000 years. Within recent times, Mt. Soufriere in St. Vincent has been the most active of these volcanoes. Although the return period of these volcanoes may be exceedingly long, it is well advised not to locate any permanent health care facilities within their immediate vicinity.

The environs of volcanoes tend to be endowed with extremely fertile soil and are therefore attractive areas for population settlement. In these cases, the use of low cost chattel buildings is highly recommended to accommodate local health care resources for the delivery of health services to these populations.

Site selection must take into account local volcanic hazards. In order to minimize catastropic effects such as the one in St. Pierre, Martinique in 1902, roof design must take into consideration thick ash coverage.