Owners of businesses in the British Virgin Islands are getting assistance to improve their contingency planning to better recover from future events that impact their operations.

Emergency Communications Manager of the Department of Disaster Management (DDM), Mr. Jasen Penn was elected Vice Chair-person of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Tsunami Programme for the Caribbean and Adjacent Region.

The Department of Disaster Management is advising persons living in close proximity to Cox Heath and who may be impacted by the smoke, particularly the elderly, children and individuals with respiratory illnesses to take extra precautions to avoid exposure:

The Department of Disaster Management is advising the BVI community that His Excellency the Governor, on the advice on Director Disaster Management and in consultation with the Honourable Premier, has authorised the activation of National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) at Level 2 in response to the fire at Cox Heath.

The Hydrology Project team is inviting persons in the business community to drop-in at the Department of Disaster Management’s office to understand flood risks to their businesses and obtain advice on resilience measures and business continuity planning.

The Territory is gearing up to observe the very first “Flood Protection Awareness Week” to educate persons on how to protect themselves, their property and businesses against floods.

Some 25 Government communicators, including statutory bodies and media professionals recently completed an intense two-day training workshop on ‘Media Relations in Crisis for Disaster Preparedness’.

What does Government communicators want? What do the media want? What is the collective responsibility of communicators and the media when an incident or disaster strikes? What are their roles in disaster management?

Residents of the Virgin Islands are asked to do their part and be prepared this hurricane season. 

Media professionals in the Territory will be engaged in a training workshop in disaster management next week, April 16 and 17.