O'ahu certified disaster ready

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

O'ahu is prepared to face up to the dangers of severe storms and tsunamis, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service.

The City and County of Honolulu fulfilled all the weather service's readiness factors and was declared "TsunamiReady" and "StormReady" yesterday at a ceremony at Honolulu Hale, said Jim Weyman, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service's Honolulu forecast office.

The certification and special "TsunamiReady" and "StormReady" community signs were presented to Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

Both certifications are renewable every three years. StormReady certification has been available for about five years, Weyman said, and more than 900 communities in 47 states have been certified.

The TsunamiReady certification has only been available since shortly before the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, he said, and only 18 communities of the hundreds most likely to be affected — those along the U.S. West Coast, Alaska and Hawai'i — have been certified, he said.

Maui and Kaua'i got their tsunami-ready certifications earlier this year. The Big Island will have its certification in the very near future, Weyman said.

"That doesn't mean we are tsunami- and storm-proof," Weyman said. "It just means that more lives will be saved."

Honolulu's 24-hour warning system, which is routed through the 911 dispatch system and includes a dedicated hot line for weather and civil defense agencies, fulfilled part of the requirements, Weyman said.

Weather monitoring systeams that range from high-tech equipment to civil defense personnel braving elements on the North Shore to report wave heights also helped fill the requirements, he said.

"For counties in Hawai'i," Weyman said, "certification is easier because the system is already in place. We have the sirens and the 24-hour operations centers and the severe weather plans. We just had to fine-tune a few things and turn in the paperwork."

Ken Gilbert, disaster preparedness and recovery officer, said his agency prepared the paperwork for Honolulu's certification by the National Weather Service.

"We were just doing the things we normally do," he said. "We documented it, and they came in and said yes, we meet the requirements for certification."

Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com