By Scott D. Johnston
Chuck Wallace, deputy director of Grays Harbor County Emergency Management, was in Ocean Shores last week to urge folks to get NOAA All Hazard “ALERT” Weather Radios as part of their emergency preparedness efforts.
Concerns were raised last month when a magnitude 7.9 earthquake off the coast of Alaska prompted a tsunami watch for Washington, Oregon and California.
Wallace told about 30 people who attended the weekly Community Voices at the North Beach Senior Center, that the quake occurred at 1:31 a.m. PST, and the National Weather Service issued a tsunami watch. He explained that a watch is only the second of four levels of emergency tsunami information. A watch means “an earthquake has occurred, a tsunami is possible, but it’s not likely to be catastrophic,” he said.
The next level up is a tsunami advisory, which means a tsunami has been observed, a wave up to 2-3 feet is possible, and people should stay off the beach and be prepared for additional action. A warning means serious danger and is a call for immediate evacuation to the nearest high ground.
“People used to complain about their radios going off all the time” for watches, he said. So, a tsunami watch no longer automatically triggers an audio warning on the All Hazard ALERT radios, although a warning light may come on. “Now, a lot of them default to no sound on a watch,” but they can usually be reprogrammed to sound an alert tone when a watch is transmitted, he said.
Wallace explained another error occurred with the Alaskan tsunami, which ultimately failed to materialize, that kept many folks unaware of the potential situation. Many residents have signed up to receive phone, text and/or email notifications through the Grays Harbor County Emergency Notification System. But a data processing error by the emergency communications company Teleira resulted in those messages not being sent to coastal residents who have signed up for the notification program. He said that has since been corrected and a test for the Coastal Group will be done soon.
Still, he urged folks to get the All Hazard ALERT radios as the fastest means of being notified of emergencies. The process of sending phone messages to thousands of recipients can take a half-hour or longer than the ALERT radio notifications. Once an alert has been transmitted, people can find updated information on the county’s website, www.co.grays-harbor.wa.us/departments/emergency_management/, on their Facebook page, Grays Harbor County Emergency Management, and on Twitter.
Prior to Wallace’s talk, local resident Dennis Schulte spent about an hour helping several folks make sure their All Hazard ALERT weather radios are properly programmed to receive local notifications. He will do it again this Thursday Feb. 15, at 10:30 a.m. at the Senior Center, 885 Ocean Shores Blvd. NW.
