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VITEMA Says 18,000 Residents Registered to Participate in Tsunami Exercise as Agency Deems Event a Success

The V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency on Thursday, March 16 conducted its annual Caribe Wave Tsunami Awareness exercise at 11:00 a.m., and the local agency has deemed the exercise a success with 18,000 residents having pre-registered to participate. Participants were asked to review their emergency evacuation procedures and to assemble at an elevation 82 feet above sea level, which is the minimal elevation recommended when tsunami alarms are sounded, according to VITEMA.  Exercise participants were encouraged to drop, cover, and hold on for sixty seconds when the test began as if an earthquake had occurred, then to practice proceeding inland or to higher ground. Participating groups included families, businesses, schools, government agencies, faith-based organizations, as well as private citizens. The exercise included the monthly testing of the territory’s tsunami warning system in the form of a 60-second tone. The tone was scheduled to sound on St. Croix at 11:00 a.m., ...