Scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in 'Ewa Beach aim to slash the time it takes to respond to an earthquake by between 25 percent and 70 percent when daily round-the-clock staffing begins in the spring.

About two to five minutes elapse between the time an on-call staffer receives news of an earthquake and the moment he issues an alert for a tsunami threatening Hawai'i.

"The federal government wants us to shave that down to 90 seconds," said Stuart Weinstein, assistant director at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

When the center isn't staffed, scientists take about two minutes to run or bike to the office from their homes, clustered within 500 feet of the center in 'Ewa Beach.

These few minutes, essential to communities in a tsunami's path, will no longer be wasted on commuting in April. A portion of $24 million appropriated by Congress in May to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will allow 24-hour staffing, seven days a week, at the nation's two tsunami warning centers — at the 'Ewa Beach site and the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.

The federal government allocated the money in response to the earthquake and ensuing tsunami in the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, 2004. At least 216,000 people were killed or disappeared in 11 Indian Ocean countries.

The money from Congress will be used to improve the tsunami warning network in the U.S.

"I'm pretty confident that we'll eventually be able to do that," Weinstein said. "That's going to depend, too, on the nature of the seismic networks and the techniques we use."

The 'Ewa Beach center currently is staffed between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., although beepers frequently call scientists back to work at news of an earthquake.

Since May the center has increased its staff to 13 people from eight and still needs to fill two more spots.

Its responsibility has branched out from the Pacific basin to include the Caribbean. The center also is working with the Japan Meteorological Agency to monitor the Indian Ocean until a warning system is installed in the region.

MAJOR DAMAGE

Tsunamis could cause major damage to coastal communities rimming several of the eight main Hawaiian Islands. More than 200 people in Hawai'i were killed by tsunamis in the 20th century.

Paul Whitmore, director of the warning center in Palmer, Alaska, said 24-hour staffing will shave off the three to four minutes it takes scientists there to rise from bed and drive to the center before issuing a tsunami alert in response to an earthquake.

"Rather than responding from dead sleep, we'll already have people there," Whitmore said. "We're definitely better off this way."

The Alaska center registers about 400 to 500 earthquake alarms per year from around the world and lets safety officials know whether those temblors could displace enough water to trigger a dangerous tsunami.

The Alaska center currently is open on weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. AST. The number of positions has risen to 15 from 6.5 to fill the additional hours.

The center has been scrambling since August to train the new employees. And aside from overseeing its home state, the West Coast and British Columbia, its responsibilities have expanded to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast.

"It has been tumultuous here," said geophysicist Bruce Turner, who has worked at both the Hawai'i and Alaska warning centers over the past 23 years.

MORE BUOYS

NOAA will spend most of the federal money on 39 buoys with pressure recorders anchored to the sea floor that can detect tsunamis of less than a half-inch in height. Half-inch tsunami waves in mid-ocean can be compressed into towering surges of water after reaching shallower coastal areas.

The buoys relay information to tsunami warning centers via satellite. NOAA plans to raise the number of buoys in the Pacific Ocean to 32 from the current 10 and add seven in the Atlantic, which has none, by 2007.

But improved warning systems won't make a difference unless people know where to seek shelter, a tsunami expert said.

"If we're talking about saving lives, we're really talking about preparing local communities," said Harry Yeh, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

Alaska's seismic restlessness threatens those beyond its borders as well. Tsunamis radiating from the mountainous south-central region and the Aleutian Islands can pose a huge danger to communities thousands of miles away.

Tsunami waves were triggered by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake that shook Alaska on March 27, 1964.

And in 1946, a tsunami spawned by a magnitude 8.1 earthquake off Unimak Island killed 159 people in Hilo.