Southern regional disaster coordinator for the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, Camille Beckford-Palmer, addresses students at the Hayes Primary and Junior High School at the recent earthquake awareness seminar. - George Henry

More than 200 Grade 6 students from the Hayes Primary & Junior High School in Clarendon benefited from an earthquake awareness seminar which was coordinated by bauxite giant Jamalco, as part of the company's 'Jamalco in Schools' programme.

The interactive seminar which was held on January 15, included video presentation about earthquakes, a question-and-answer session and drills, in which the students practised how to react in the event of an earthquake.

injured

Southern regional disaster coordinator for the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, Camille Beckford-Palmer, also participated in the exercise. Beckford-Palmer argued that too many persons are injured during earthquakes because they do not know how to react to such occurrences.

She advised students who participated in the seminar to put into practice what they learnt by following the 'drop, cover and hold' procedure and to share the information with their parents. Beckford-Palmer also implored the students to only seek shelter under fixtures that are made from hard wood.

Earthquake Awareness Week began on Monday.