Last week, La Conner got a tsunami “watch” alert resulting from the 8.8 magnitude earthquake off Russia: it’s the most general notice a region can get about a tsunami and really just means to pay attention in case the weather gets serious. (It was followed by a slightly higher level alert late at night, but never upgraded to imminent harm.) I was struck with how little information was available and, after a few phone calls around town, how few people knew about it.
What’s the value in an alert that no one knows about, I wondered. How are we supposed to know to keep, well, “watch”?
Also: who decides when the sirens go off? Why didn’t they last week?
The answer is complicated in part because emergency communications aren’t managed by a single agency. They’re a web of federal, state, and local systems, each with specific roles. The National Tsunami Warning Center detects threats and sends alerts to federal and state agencies. If the threat is high enough, the state sounds the sirens. The county receives notifications from the state and decides whether to send notifications to your cell phones, either through their app called the Code Red Emergency Notification System (that you have to download) or, if the threat is high enough, through a broader system that can send a special alert to all cell phones.
If the threat is high enough. The officials I spoke to at the town and county levels said that it would have to be a “warning,” or two levels higher than last week’s first alert.
Here’s the takeaway: When the sirens go off or your phone buzzes with an emergency alert, take it seriously and follow instructions. These tools are only used when the threat is imminent.
If you want earlier updates, you’ll need to act. Sign up for Code Red. Buy a weather radio. Check reliable sources, like our website and tsunami.gov. And please, keep talking to your neighbors.
In an emergency, knowledge is power — and connection is survival. Let’s make sure we’re ready.
Kari Mar is the editor and publisher of La Conner Community News.
