Shouting in the Dark: Emergency Communication in USVI After Irma and Maria

Nykole Tyson, Director of Public Relations for the US Virgin Islands Department of Health, speaking into a radio microphone.

Communication experts often say, “When you’re communicating during an emergency, always think about what you’d say to your mom. What information would she need the most? How would you explain it to her? What would you need to know for sure before you told her? And just how far would you go to reach her?”

When Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) in September 2017, this wasn’t just advice for Nykole Tyson. Nykole is the USVI Department of Health’s (DOH’s) Director of Public Relations. She serves as the DOH spokesperson and emergency communicator. Like all of USVI’s responders and government officials, she is a survivor who was impacted by the storms. Nykole’s home had water and roof damage and she was without water or power for four months. “I caught rain water in barrels and used solar lights sent to me by friends living stateside,” Nykole said. She lived on a cot in her office in the DOH for several weeks between and after both storms. .

The storms destroyed most of the territory’s communication infrastructure, making both personal and mass communication nearly impossible. Nykole was unable to reach her own family for four days after the second hurricane. However, within hours of both storms, she was on the radio talking to her community about how to stay safe, find shelter, and stay strong. Nykole wasn’t just talking to the public, she was talking to her neighbors, her community, her family, and even her mom.

Hurricane Irma

Just hours before Hurricane Irma hit USVI, Nykole was a spokesperson on local radio stations and distributed press releases, public service announcements (PSAs), and social media messages with critical information about how to prepare for the storm. When the storm hit on September 6, electricity, cell, and Internet access was cut off across most of the territory. People sought resources, shelter, and safety, and many struggled to locate friends and loved ones. Virgin Islanders needed to know how to stay safe around downed power lines, debris, mold, and floodwaters.  There was only one working radio station after the storm and Nykole immediately went on the air to give safety tips and updates about available services. She also realized that some people were still able to access Facebook, and the social network became one of the primary means of communication throughout the response. The USVI DOH Facebook posts from September provide a glimpse into how events unfolded and demonstrate the DOH’s commitment to responding to the public’s concerns.

Hurricane Maria

Just 12 days after Irma, USVI was preparing for another major hurricane—Maria. Only this time there were limited ways to alert the public and provide health and safety information. Virgin Islanders, Nykole included, needed to find shelter or prepare their homes, many of which were already damaged, for the impact of another hurricane. Nykole did a PSA on the local radio station from her own home as she was securing her furniture and checking her emergency supplies. “We will get through this,” she repeated over the radio. Unbeknownst to the listeners, Nykole’s family had lost phone service after Irma. She had been unable to reach them so she was driving to her mom’s house to give her family the same safety information she was sharing on the air.

When the storm hit, Nykole and about one hundred other DOH staff took care of special needs patients sheltered in the DOH building. As the wind battered and shook the concrete building, they thought of their communities, homes, and families on the islands. “We were all scared,” she recalls. As soon as the clouds cleared, Nykole was back on the radio, “We survived two category fives. We lost property but we still have our lives. All is not lost. It is time for us to rebuild.”

Resourcefulness and Resilience

USVI DOH staff had to be creative and resourceful after the storms because the typical means of communication were down. The best ways to share information immediately after the storms was through paper flyers, radio, and in-person outreach. CDC and the U.S. Postal Service assisted with printing and distributing a flyer on key health tips to every mailbox on all four islands. CDC health communicators deployed to USVI to support outreach efforts started conversations the islands at churches, stores, disaster recovery centers, radio stations, and schools.

When asked about lessons learned, Nykole reflected, “Do not underestimate the power of radio.” She is still making radio appearances to engage the community, repeat the key messages, answer questions, and encourage community members. While she is running errands, people stop to thank her and comment on her energy. “There were so many times I wanted to cry when I was on the radio, but the listeners didn’t know that,” she says. People tell her how she kept them calm during the worst of the storms, and, hearing her now, still on the radio, lets them know that their government officials are still working hard for them.

Nykole’s experience shows how a talented spokesperson who is also a survivor can be the best voice to engage and reassure a community after a disaster. All responses could benefit from people who care for and communication with the public as if they are family.

Educating Children After Hurricane Maria

In September 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria roared through the Caribbean just 12 days apart. The schools on St. Croix and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) did not re-open until October 24. Teachers talked about how many of the books and materials in their classrooms were moldy and how teachers and staff had to help the janitorial staff clean up classrooms. Parents shared stories of their children coming home from school with mosquito bites all over their arms and legs. Schools could not always run the air-conditioning because they were operating using generators.

Finding a natural fit

As a team lead in the Division of Adolescent and School Health, I have expertise in how health departments and federal agencies should work with schools. So when I was deployed to support health communication activities in the US Virgin Islands after Hurricane Maria, I offered to support the USVI Department of Health doing health communication outreach to schools. We worked quickly to connect with schools and distribute materials to students and their families about how to stay safe and healthy after a hurricane.

Making a vision a realityChildren are the key to primary prevention because they are the drivers of the health behaviors we hope to change. -Malaika Washington

I worked with Director of Public Relations, Nykole Tyson, at the USVI Department of Health and the USVI Department of Education to determine how many children were enrolled on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John and which educational materials from CDC to distribute. With support from the CDC Foundation, we printed and distributed flyer packets for over 16,000 K-12 students on the three islands to take home to their families. The packets contained CDC-developed materials about how to stay safe after a hurricane, including tips for food and water safety, how to prevent mosquito bites, the health risks from mold, how to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning, and mental health. Since 35% of the children on St. Croix speak Spanish, we made the messages available in both English and Spanish.

Each child was also given a copy of the Ready Wrigley Flooding and Mold Activity Book as part of the flyer packet. Ready Wrigley is a series of CDC-developed activity books for children 5-9 years old and their families to help them talk about and prepare for emergencies. There are nine Ready Wrigley books that provide tips, activities and a story about disaster preparedness. The flooding and mold activity book talks specifically about safe mold clean-up after a flood and how kids should never touch mold and always tell a grown-up if they see mold.

Giving children a voice

Malaika Washington reading the Ready Wrigley Flooding and Mold activity book to students in USVI.
Sharing the Ready Wrigley Flooding and Mold activity book with students in USVI.

American Education Week takes place every November. The USVI Department of Education contacted Director Tyson and asked her to read to elementary school students on St. Croix. She asked me if I would like to join her visits to kindergarten and first grade classrooms. I jumped at the chance to interact with students in-person and suggested we read the Ready Wrigley Flooding and Mold Activity Book. I even colored the pictures in the book and completed the activities so the children could follow along. We shared the Ready Wrigley books with the teachers at each school we visited, giving teachers enough copies of the book for every student to take one home.

All of the students really wanted their stories heard. One first grader recounted how his mother and grandparents told him to stay far away from the cleaning products while they cleaned up the mold in their home. Another little girl shared how she was personally impacted by mold. She had to sleep on the sofa in her home because there was mold all over her bed and the other furniture in her bedroom. Several other children described the mold they found on the front door of their homes after the hurricane.

Fulfilling a passion

Working with school-aged children is so rewarding. This deployment experience was the best I could have hoped for. The time I spent in the USVI made me realize my personal and professional goal to provide public health education materials to children and their families. I have always believed that public health prevention work should begin with school-aged youth and it is my lifelong public health mission to ensure that they have a voice.

Malaika Washington has been a Commissioned Corps Officer in the United Stated Public Health Service since October 2009. She is a team lead in the Division of Adolescent and School Health, the only division at CDC that funds education agencies directly. Her deployment to the U.S. Virgin Islands for the 2017 HHS Hurricane Response was the first time she deployed for a public health emergency.