Installation of warning sirens

MARIGOT: Don’t panic if you hear sirens sounding, it is a test! Three sirens of the Système d’Alerte et d’Information à la Population (SAIP) are going to be installed on St. Martin, between May 17th and 20th 2022, by the company EIFFAGE. This first phase of installation will allow the districts of Marigot, Quartier d’Orléans and Grand Case to be equipped with SAIP sirens.

On the day of installation, the sirens will sound a first cycle. Recognizable thanks to an ascending and descending sound, the alert signal will follow three cycles of this sound separated by intervals of 5 seconds. In a real situation, upon hearing it, the population must apply the reflex behaviors of safeguarding such as going to safety and keeping themselves informed.

What are the characteristics of the signals?

Monthly tests: 1 sequence of 1 minute and 41 seconds on the first Wednesday of each month at noon;

Alert signal: 3 sequences of 1 minute and 41 seconds, separated by a silence;

End of alert signal: continuous sound of 30 seconds

It is useful to know that tests will be carried out monthly, in order to ensure the proper functioning of the Alert and Information Systems of the populations (SAIP). As in metropolitan France, it will be the first Wednesday of each month, at noon.

Reminder on the general instructions of behavior in case of alert

At the signal, you must :

* Immediately move to a closed room, preferably without windows, carefully closing openings (cracks, doors, air vents, chimneys, etc.).

* Turn off air conditioning, heating and ventilation.

* Listen to the radio.

 

What not to do:

* Stay in your vehicle;

* Pick up your children from school (teachers are trained to ensure their safety)

* Do not make phone calls (networks must remain available for emergency services)

* Stay close to the windows

* Open windows to see what is going on outside

* Light any kind of flame (risk of explosion)

* Leave your shelter without instructions from the authorities

 

As a reminder:

Following the passage of major hurricanes in September 2017, the Overseas Blue Book validated the principle of the deployment of the Alert and Information System to the Population on our territory. The SAIP is a set of tools allowing the dissemination of a signal or a message by the authorities. Its objective is to alert the population exposed, or likely to be exposed, to the consequences of an imminent or ongoing serious event, a natural threat (cyclone, tsunami, flood, landslide …) or technological (industrial, biological).

This system is a means of alert that can be triggered remotely from Paris or the prefecture of Saint-Martin/Saint Barthélemy. The decision is then made by the Inter-ministerial Crisis Management Operational Center (COGIC), a civil security crisis management command body under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior.

Locally, the President of the Collectivité de Saint-Martin can also sound the alarm manually, from a control box, as part of his prerogative to safeguard the territorial population.

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Source: Faxinfo https://www.faxinfo.sx/2022/05/09/installation-of-warning-sirens/