The Department of Disaster Management (DDM) is developing an enhanced emergency alerting app, which will be available to the public next year. Costs for the technical development of the app are being shared by the Government of the Virgin Islands and the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office.

In addition to receiving notifications regarding local weather and impending hazard threats, the new app will serve as a mobile repository for information to help residents #BeReady, such as information on emergency shelters.

His Excellency the Governor John Rankin CMG said the United Kingdom is pleased to support the advancement of the Territory’s National Early Warning and Multi-hazard Alert System.

“Receiving early warning messages allows the population to have time to take early action to protect themselves from an approaching hazard such as a hurricane or tsunami,” Mr. Rankin said. “I hope that once this new app is launched, it will further contribute to the safety of people in the Virgin Islands.”

DDM Director Jasen Penn said that the Virgin Islands was among the first jurisdictions in the region to release an emergency alerting mobile app for the public in 2018.

“Since that time, the possibilities of mobile phone technology have advanced significantly. We are looking forward to the new app’s enhanced capabilities, which will reflect some of the requests we’ve been hearing from the public,” Mr. Penn said.

In the meantime, residents can continue to utilise the DDM Alert App available from the App Store and Google Play.

Residents can also access resources to help them plan and prepare for possible disasters, such as the emergency shelter list, emergency plan templates for families, and continuity planning templates for businesses, on the DDM website http://www.bviddm.com.

Caption 1: The app in development will improve on the DDM Alert App available now. (Credit: DDM/Chrystall Kanyuck-Abel