Part of the University of the West Indies, it is also responsible for providing formal advice, and information, around the volcanic, seismic and tsunami hazards and events across the region, to reduce risk and protect lives and livelihoods.
[6] UWI-SRC was established in 1953, as the Volcanological Research Department of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad.
[9][10] The origins of the modern network go back to the early 1950s, when geophysicist Patrick Willmore was sent by the British Colonial Office to investigate a seismic crisis on St Kitts and Nevis which had begun in late December 1950.
To prevent this happening again, Willmore recommended that a regional network of instruments be established by placing one seismograph on 'each of the major British islands', with data collected at a central office.
The first seismometers installed were analogue seismographs designed by Patrick Willmore, which recorded onto photographic paper.