Tsunami alert sirens will play gentle Westminster chimes on the North Olympic Peninsula during a test on Monday.
The 10 seconds of chimes, followed by a verbal message that the sound was “only a test,” will be heard from seven Peninsula sirens at noon, when they are activated by satellite by the state Emergency Operations Center in Camp Murray.
The All Hazard Alert Broadcast Systems Sirens will sing in Port Angeles on Marine Drive, behind the Lower Elwha tribal center, at Diamond Point and in Neah Bay in Clallam County.
They will sound at Fort Worden, Point Hudson and the Port Townsend Marina in Jefferson County.
The exercise will test the use of transmission by satellite rather than by microwaves, said Rob Harper, public information officer for the state Emergency Management Division.
“Part of what we’re going to find out is how audible it is, how clear it is,” Harper said.
“We’ll have folks out on the ground listening,” he said.
The sirens are supposed to be audible from 4,000 feet away, said Jamye Wisecup, program coordinator for Clallam County Emergency Management Department.
Different tones
The tones used in the test will be different from those used in an actual emergency.
Monday’s test will begin a schedule of testing on the first Monday of each month, Wisecup and Harper said.
In odd-numbered months, the test will be activated by the state via satellite, while tests during even-numbered months will be by manual activation, Wisecup said.
Monday’s test also will be carried out in Grays Harbor and Pacific counties.
Thirty-two coastal warning loudspeakers will be tested.
“Washington’s tsunami warning system is one of the nation’s most advanced and will warn persons who are outdoors along the coast,” said John Schelling, state Emergency Management Division earthquake and tsunami program manager.
“State and federal agencies approved and funded the system’s construction in the aftermath of the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.”
For more information, see www.clallam.net/EmergencyMgmt/html/links.htm,www.jeffcoeoc.org or www.emd.wa.gov.
