Posted on: Saturday, March 26, 2005

Tsunami coming, but it's only a test

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

On Friday, shortly after the tsunami warning sirens sound in Hawai'i, surfers may notice Civil Air Patrol aircraft with loudspeakers beneath the wings flying overhead, and police officers may be seen lingering around strategic traffic control spots statewide.

Don't worry. It is only a drill, and the public will not be required to participate, according to civil defense officials.

The statewide tsunami exercise will be conducted by state and county Civil Defense agencies and their governmental and nongovernmental partners on the 59th anniversary of the 1946 tsunami that originated off Alaska and killed 159 people in Hawai'i, said Ray Lovell, spokesman for state Civil Defense.

The drill kicks off tsunami awareness month. Similar exercises are held once or twice each year, he said.

Planning for this exercise has been under way since October, well before the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, Lovell said.

As part of the drill, the siren will signal a tsunami approaching from the Aleutian Islands in the Alaskan Gulf, Lovell said.

Agencies will act as if they've had three hours for the tsunami to hit, and will double check plans, recall lists and, in the case of Waikiki hotels, "vertical evacuation" routes, so that residents and tourists can get to higher floors.

"We want to make sure they have workable plans," he said, "and not just plans to satisfy some written requirement. We want them to make plans to save lives."

The Civil Air Patrol planes, in the event of a tsunami, will be warning surfers to get out of the water, he said.

An earlier effort by Civil Defense was aimed at teaching surfers that tsunami waves cannot be surfed, he said.

This month, he said, Civil Defense and other state agencies hope to make small-boat owners more aware of the choices they will face.

Seaworthy boats will survive a tsunami if they have at least 600 feet of water beneath them, he said. But for many boat owners the choice may boil down to rescuing the car or trying to drive it to the small-boat harbor to rescue the boat.

The best option?

"Just leave it," he said.

For people outside the evacuation area, Lovell said, the most difficult part of weathering the tsunami will be sitting quietly at home.

"Stay out of the car and stay off the phone," he said.

The state departments of Land and Natural Resources and Education, the U.S. Army Pacific, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's weather service and Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, the Red Cross, several Waikiki hotels and a few local banks will be among the private and public agencies participating.

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