BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Everbridge, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVBG), the global leader in critical event management and enterprise safety software applications to help keep people safe and businesses running, today announced deployment of Alert VI, the new emergency notification service for the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA) replaced its previous alert system with the Everbridge platform, which is now fully operational, as this year’s hurricane season gets underway.
“As the sole governmental agency responsible for All-Hazards response, we have a commitment to ensure public safety, community awareness and emergency response,” explains VITEMA Director Mona Barnes. “To uphold this commitment, when critical information and public service announcements arise, we need to reach our residents and visitors as quickly and reliably as possible.”
Alert VI will provide VITEMA and partnering agencies the ability to keep its communities informed with quick and reliable emergency notifications and public service announcements. Located just east of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands consists of three main islands – St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix – and dozens of smaller islands. Along with its more than 100,000 residents, the USVI is a world-renowned vacation retreat for nearly three million tourists each year. VITEMA encourages everyone to sign up for Alert VI now, with the hurricane season having begun on June 1.
In September of last year, Hurricane Irma hit the U.S. Virgin Islands as a Category 5 storm, with wind gusts reaching 225 miles per hour. Irma’s high winds tore off roofs across the islands. Two weeks later, Hurricane Maria, another Category 5 storm, slammed into the popular territory with a storm surge followed by weeks of rain. Among Alert VI’s new alerting tools is the Everbridge mobile app, which allows residents and travelers to be notified of danger when entering a high-risk area.
“We are proud to work with VITEMA to ensure the safety of residents and visitors across the U.S. Virgin Islands during this year’s hurricane season,” said Jaime Ellertson, CEO, Everbridge. “Our team of critical event management experts is dedicated to providing our customers with the right tools, best practices and functionality to ensure preparedness during the hurricane season, and to always maximize response and safety efforts.”
VITEMA will also leverage Everbridge Incident Zones™, providing instant alerts to people who enter an area located near an occurring critical event. With Incident Zones, notifications can be broadcast continuously for a specified duration of time. For example, if a beach area was experiencing dangerous rip tides, alerts could be sent to people who come to that beach for the next several days.
If you live in or plan to travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands, you can sign up for alerts here, or download the Everbridge App from the Appleor Android stores.
