Although the elaborate warning system in place to warn North Olympic Peninsula coastal residents of a possible tsunami failed to work Tuesday night because of a communications glitch, officials called the evacuations and emergency response a partial success.
A tsunami warning was issued by the West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center at 7:56 p.m. following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Northern California.
The quake occurred at 7:50 p.m.
A tsunami materialized, but it measured only about three-quarters of an inch — nothing compared to the tsunami that struck in South Asia in December, killing tens of thousands.
But sirens and radio receivers were supposed to sound and alert residents in low-lying areas like LaPush and Neah Bay.
They didn’t because of a communications glitch over a phone line that was transferring the signal between the National Weather Service and the U.S. Coast Guard in Seattle, said Brad Colman, science and operations manager for the National Weather Service.
Phone company technicians are investigating what went wrong, Colman said.
“The system seems to have failed, as far as we are concerned,” Colman said.
“One can take at least some solace in the fact that probably most everyone got the message, but you don’t want any failures.”
Meeting scheduled
To get to the bottom of what happened and what can be done to ensure the integrity of the alert system made up of sirens, emergency broadcast alerts and weather radios, the state’s top emergency management official is calling for a meeting next month between counties and communities near the Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound.
Overall, the response to the warning went well, said Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, adjutant general of the Washington National Guard.
An investigation into the communication failure will be launched, he said.
“There’s always an effort to document what happened and why, and we’ll be doing that in this case,” Lowenberg said.
A date for the meeting has not been set, he said.
Residents in low-lying areas on the Hoh, Quileute and Makah reservations were evacuated after officials learned of the tsunami warning.
The siren in Neah Bay did not work. The one in LaPush was activated manually.
The sirens are supposed to activate automatically for tsunami warnings and watches, Colman said.
