If a natural disaster strikes the territory and there’s some kind of emergency that overwhelms local response groups, rest assured that the U.S. Virgin Islands are not alone. Help will be coming.
That point was made graphically clear Tuesday morning at the V.I. National Guard’s All-Hazards Preparedness Conference, where far more people showed up to help plan emergency response than the organizers had expected.
The conference room at the Frederiksted Government House at the Old Danish School was packed with more than 80 people filling every chair and lining the back wall three deep.
Representatives from territorial groups and federal agencies, primarily the National Guard, including Guard units from across the country, were on hand to show they’ll be here to help. During the introductions, the fact that it was a universal effort was shown as people announced where they were from: Delaware, New York, Puerto Rico, Texas, Mississippi, Chicago, Indiana and Colorado.
One man told the audience he was from Texas, and V.I. National Guard Adjutant Gen. Renaldo Rivera welcomed him personally, adding, “Or should I say, ‘Yee-haw!’”
The man replied, “No sir. That’s Tennessee,” to which the entire audience laughed, but they were there on serious business. 
Rivera said that once a disaster strikes, it’s too late to plan. It’s time to swing into action.
“You don’t want to be in a hurricane. You don’t want to be in a tsunami. You don’t want to be in an earthquake,” he said. “But if you are, you want to be able to pick up your book and see what’s coming. This is what I’ll do on day one. This is what I’ll do on day two. You want to know what comes next.”
The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico pose a unique challenge in disaster or emergency, Rivera said. When a tornado strikes Missouri or a blizzard hits upstate New York, there are highways and airports and ways to convey needed goods and personnel to the scene. In the territory, everything has to come by boat or plane, and in a hurricane the plane is probably out.
“We’re out here by ourselves,” the general said. “We are the guardians of the eastern front.”
Emergency responders would need to bring enough food and water for three or four days, he said, noting that included sleeping bags, communication equipment and everything they were likely to need in the case of a major disaster.
While it’s early in hurricane season and all is quiet in the Northern Atlantic – for now – it was noted that it might not be too many weeks before some of those same attending responders are needed to come back and deal with an emergency, an emergency they’d all be better equipped to handle if they are familiar with the turf.
So a special point was made that after Tuesday morning’s meeting, participants would be split up into groups and shown around the island.
It’s not typical tourist sightseeing, VING Col. Edward Richards said.
“We have a lot of people here who have never been to the Virgin Islands,” he said. “You need to see the areas where you might be operating.”
Emergencies are classed on a scale of 5 to 1, with 5 being the least severe and 1 being the worst. The territory can handle a Type 4 emergency – for example, a Category 2 hurricane – with its own resources, according to VING Maj. Donald Woodley. But if the responders look at the weather report and see a Category 4 or 5 storm bearing down on the Virgin Islands, he urged them to “Start packing up.”
“We’ll need help,” Woodley said.
Rivera added that after hurricane season is over, those who had traveled to the territory could expect the same kind of assistance from the Virgin Islands.
“We don’t have a lot of experience with blizzards,” he said, “but if you need us, we’ll be there.”
Participants in the two-day workshop include representatives from the National Guard Bureau, the Pentagon’s Northern Command, the Joint Enabling Team, MEDEVAC and rotary wing support, and the Domestic All-Hazards Response Team, which is the 42nd Division from New York state.
