For those tech-savvy islanders who find themselves out on the cutting edge of things, feel free to follow the Twitter page for the local Department of Emergency Management at: http://www.twitter.com/sjcdem

According to Emergency Management Director Brendan Cowan, “Twitter is a simple system we can use to help keep islanders up to date in the event of a significant emergency. We’ll only use it if there’s a true crisis, and we recognize that it won’t reach everyone in the islands- but it is a nice tool to have in our back pocket if need be.”

Twitter is a system that allows users to receive short updates via either email or their cell phones. Says Cowan, “It won’t replace more traditional means of getting the word out, and obviously it doesn’t work without power or internet, but given that it is free and growing in usage, we figured it couldn’t hurt to give it a try.”

For questions about this, or anything else related to disaster preparedness, contact the Emergency Management Department at 378-9932 orwww.sanjuandem.net