A big concern is with Oahu’s siren alert system.
Oahu’s Emergency Management Department was notified of the tsunami warning at 7:30 p.m. It took 25 minutes until someone activated the alarm, but they switched on an old siren system that did not work in some areas.
It’s a problem the City is asking HPD to help improve.
"At about 7:55 Saturday night, the sound of sirens erupted across Oahu indicating the entire state was under a tsunami warning. But residents from Kahana Bay to Haleiwa and other areas did not hear the alarm," said John Cummings of the City’s Department of Emergency Management
Oahu Department of Emergency Management says part of that was do to human error.
"The standard procedure is the staff heads immediately into the office and at this point the priority is to activate the siren warning system," said Cummings. "Now due to the confusion, and what some call "the fog of war" and everything going on the initial siren activation for the county of Oahu was made using an older siren system that was still in place."
It wasn’t until several minutes later they realized a mistake was made. The new siren system was activated for the following alarms at 8:10 p.m., 9:40 p.m. and 10 p.m.
"We have received some reports that some sirens did not sound but we don’t know the extent," said State Civil Defense Vice Director Doug Mayne.
The Oahu DEM is not staffed 24/7, so when an emergency happens after hours, someone has to get to the office to sound the sirens.
The Honolulu Police Department has back-up capabilities at its dispatch center to activate the alarm, but has never had to do so. After this weekend, that will likely change.
"If an event like this happens again where there’s no warning, we go right to a tsunami warning, we will give them the ability to sound the siren system since they have that equipment there," said Cummings.
HPD and DEM are meeting to work out a plan.
State Civil Defense says overall each counties emergency response went very well.
"As good as as good as our coordination was, I’m sure we could cut a little bit of time and just make sure people are able to respond faster," said Mayne.
There are 180 sirens on Oahu. If they did not activate in your area, the city wants to know about it.
For more information: Report the status of your community siren
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
