EXTRAORDINARY COMMUNICATION METHODS EMPLOYED AFTER U.S. VIRGIN
ISLANDS HURRICANES
[https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20230502/extraordinary-communication-methods-employed-after-us-virgin-islands]


Release Date: 
octobre 7, 2017 

ST. CROIX, VIRGIN ISLANDS – As the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) and our federal and territorial partners work hard to
restore hurricane-battered communications systems on the U.S. Virgin
Islands, we are taking extraordinary steps to ensure survivors receive
accurate and timely information on how to stay safe, get basic needs
met and start to recover from the storms.

Called into action in only the most extreme circumstances, the
Department of Defense’s Civil Authorities Information Support
Element (CAISE) is helping recovery agencies get vital information to
survivors who lack electricity to power TVs and radios and functioning
cell towers to communicate by phone.

Arriving with equipment mounted on heavy trucks, more than 50 CAISE
personnel went to work in St. Thomas and St. John shortly after
Hurricane Irma wiped out traditional means of communications on those
islands. Using old-fashioned methods such as loudspeaker broadcasts
and paper handouts – and some not-so-old methods such as mass text
messages to cell phones – they were able to reach thousands of
survivors.

After a brief pause while Hurricane Maria tore through the islands,
the teams sprang back into action. Since arriving CAISE has broadcast
dozens of messages via loudspeaker and disseminated more than 26,000
mass text messages – informing survivors about such things as
registering with FEMA, locations where water, food and other supplies
are being distributed, where to find Wi-Fi hotspots, and how to stay
safe and protect their families.

Moreover, these fully equipped teams have also conducted assessments
and made repairs to local radio stations, helping to restore some
island communications for the long term.

“The CAISE teams have helped all of us make the best of a very dire
situation by reaching many people who otherwise would have heard very
little about response and recovery efforts on their own,” said
FEMA’s Federal Coordinating Officer William Vogel. “As work to
restore the islands’ traditional communications systems continues,
CAISE messaging has helped fill what could have been an information
void.” 

###

_Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race,
color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English
proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has been
discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-3362 (voice,
711/VRS - Video Relay Service) (TTY: 800-462-7585). Multilingual
operators are available (press 2 for Spanish)._

_FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to
ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and
improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to,
recover from, and mitigate all hazards._

_For official information on the recovery effort following the
hurricanes, please visit __www.informusvi.com_
[http://www.informusvi.com/]_ or __www.usviupdate.com_
[http://www.usviupdate.com/]_. Follow us on twitter at_
_twitter.com/femaregion2_ [https://twitter.com/femaregion2]_._

_To donate or volunteer, contact the voluntary or charitable
organization of your choice through the National Voluntary Agencies
Active in Disasters (NVOAD) at __www.nvoad.org_
[http://www.nvoad.org/]_. __For those who wish to help, CASH donations
offer voluntary agencies the most flexibility in obtaining the
most-needed resources and pumps money into the local economy to help
businesses recover. The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands
also has the “Fund for the Virgin Islands” at
__www.__USVIrecovery.org_ [http://www.usvirecovery.org/]_._