A U.S. tsunami warning system will get its first public tryout Wednesday, when federal emergency officials issue a statewide test alert in Alaska.
At 9:45 a.m. Alaska time, televisions and radios around the state will broadcast a warning of a possible tsunami, which will be accompanied by a message identifying it as a test, said Guy Urban, a geophysicist at the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.
The center was established in 1967, but its warnings previously were issued only to emergency-response organizations, such as local fire departments, instead of to the general public, Urban said.
“In the past, we never took it to the full level because we were afraid people would get the wrong information,” Urban said.
But tsunamis, or earthquake-generated waves, have become a global concern after a Dec. 26 tsunami in the Indian Ocean left nearly 300,000 people dead or missing over large parts of Asia.
Another major quake in the region Monday sparked fears of another tsunami. The quake killed at least 1,000 people, but it did not set off a killer wave.
Alaska’s television and radio stations have been running public service announcements for the past several days to inform the public about the upcoming test, but a concern remains that some people will be unduly alarmed Wednesday, Urban said.
“Someone will think there’s a tsunami, we’re assuming. Somebody’s going to call their relatives in the Aleutians, we’re assuming. And somebody in the Aleutians is going to think there’s a tsunami and evacuate, we’re assuming,” he said.
Alaska was hit by four large tsunamis in the last century, including a series of killer waves that caused more than 110 deaths after an 8.4 magnitude quake in 1964.
The Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based in Hawaii, operate under the U.S. National Weather Service. The Alaska center focuses on the west coasts of the United States and Canada, while the Hawaii-based center provides warnings to other parts of the Pacific basin at risk of tsunamis.
