U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS — At the Government House weekly briefing on Monday, March 13, VITEMA Director Daryl Jaschen said the U.S. Virgin Islands will participate in the annual CARIBE WAVE exercise, which is a regional effort to promote tsunami awareness and readiness through drills and tests of the 44 tsunami sirens across the Territory.
The drills and siren-testing will take place from 11 to 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 16, and Director Jaschen alerted residents that it is only a drill.
Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands are both scheduled to conduct their own CARIBE WAVE 2023 Drills the following week on Thursday, March 23.
In addition to testing the tsunami sirens located on St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John and Water Island, VITEMA also will use its VI Alert system, which will send out test messages by text and email in English and Spanish to anyone signed up to use the alert system. The alerts will clearly designate that a test is underway, and at the conclusion of VITEMA’s CARIBE WAVE drills, a VI Alert message will be sent out notifying residents that the test is over.
Residents can sign up for Alert VI on the VITEMA website at website at www.vitema.vi.gov by using the link to Alert VI. Residents who have difficulty accessing the website can call VITEMA from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays at 340-774-2244 for St. Thomas; 340-776-2244 for St. John: and 340 773-2244 for St. Croix.
Under the “Tsunami” section of the VITEMA website residents can download section, maps of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John that show the tsunami evacuation zone in yellow and safe elevations areas in green, which is the “safe zone.”
Residents are encouraged to sign-up for CARIBE WAVE as an individual, family or business show their participation at www.TsunamiZone.org. Currently, the U.S. Virgin Islands has 10,447 participants signed-up for Caribe Wave 2023.
Spring Revenue Estimating Conference
The Office of Management and Budget is hosting the annual Spring Revenue Estimating Conference from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 14.
The revenue estimating conference is mandated by law to be held twice a year for the Government of the Virgin Islands’ revenue-generating agencies to report their financial forecasts.
In the spirit of transparency, the Bryan-Roach Administration has held both annual conferences since taking office to ensure these conferences take place and are made available to the public.
The Spring Revenue Estimating Conference can be seen live on the Government House Facebook page at facebook.com/GovernmentHouseUSVI or on the government access channel, which is channels 27 and 527 for VIYA customers.
Administrators’ Corner Radio Program
The expanded “Administrators’ Corner” makes its radio debut this week from 9 to 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 15 on 107.9 FM DaVybe.
The weekly program airs at that time every Wednesday and was created to update Virgin Islands residents on capital projects and other government-led community initiatives taking place on each island.
“This program is the latest initiative in the Bryan-Roach Administration’s transparency and outreach efforts, and we are proud to partner with DaVybe to bring all three island administrators together on one program at the same time to engage with the radio-listening audience,” Government House Communications Director Richard Motta Jr. said during Monday’s briefing.
COVID-19 cases as of March 13
- Currently tracking 19 active cases (10 STX; 9 STT; 0 STJ)
- There are 0 COVID-19 patients hospitalized at Luis Hospital on St. Croix.
- There are 0 COVID-19 patients hospitalized at Schneider Regional Medical Center on St. Thomas.
- There have been 130 COVID-related deaths.
For more information, visit covid19usvi.com.
The Bryan-Roach Administration is investing in the Territory’s people, infrastructure and future through transparency, stabilizing the economy, restoring trust in the government and ensuring that recovery projects are completed as quickly as possible. Visit transparency.vi.gov