Phase 1 of the territory’s tsunami warning system began this month with the installation of the first siren near the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas.
The installation commences the first of a two-phase project designed to improve the ability of emergency managers to quickly notify coastal communities that there is an imminent threat of tsunamis and other hazards, the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Authority announced.
“This project is a significant step forward in our emergency alert and notification capability," said VITEMA Director Elton Lewis. "The Virgin Islands is one of the most seismically active areas in the world and we know that in there is potential for local tsunami, where we have only minutes to react.”
VITEMA’s contractor, American Signal Corp., and its local representative Bronx Communication, and the V.I. Water and Power Authority — the three entities completing the installations — will spend the next couple of weeks mounting three additional sirens on St. Thomas, and then begin work on St. Croix, then St. John.
The three remaining sites on St. Thomas include Griffith Park, Crown Bay Sugar Mill and the Red Hook Marina. On St. Croix, the sirens will be installed at the D.C. Canegata Ballpark at Estate Welcome in Christiansted, the Government Parking Lot in downtown Christiansted, and on Emancipation Drive near the Legislative Building in Frederiksted. On St. John, the sirens will be installed at the Winston Wells Park at Cruz Bay and near the Guy Benjamin Elementary School in Coral Bay.
A map of where the first phase sirens will be placed and information on the project can be found at the VITEMA website.
WAPA is providing and installing the poles on which the sirens are mounted at no cost to VITEMA. The first phase is scheduled to be complete by the end of June.
An additional 11 sirens are slated for the second phase, which will follow shortly after the first phase is finished. VITEMA and hoteliers are in ongoing discussions on whether the hotel themselves can place a siren near their establishments, a decision which will affect the timetable of phase 2.
“This would essentially broaden our coverage area and takes into consideration that thousands of visitors are in our hotels and nearby beaches every day,” Lewis said. “Our goal is eventually to blanket our populated coastline areas and we hope the hotel industry joins us in this endeavor.”
At the end of the project, VITEMA will have installed 22 sirens tied to and triggered by the Territory’s VI Alert system. VI Alert serves as a web-based portal for advisories, watches and warnings disseminated by the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, the National Weather Service and the US Geological Survey for seismic info — as well as information from local emergency management agencies.
Both phases of the project is being funded by two separate homeland security grants, one for $350,000 and another for $300,000.
The Tsunami Warning Siren System is the result of VITEMA’s shift in focusing from solely hurricane and storm preparedness to preparing for all hazards.
