PORT ANGELES — The magnitude 7.9 earthquake that shook the Gulf of Alaska shortly after midnight Monday prompted a tsunami-watch response Tuesday more than 1,000 miles away at the Clallam County courthouse.
From about 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. Tuesday, more than a half-dozen volunteers and responders gathered in the basement of the historic brick building at 223 E. Fourth St., in the Emergency Operations Center.
“Our area never exceeded the category of watch,” said Ron Cameron, Clallam County undersheriff and director of emergency management.
Tsunami-watch status warns that a tsunami is possible and that people should be prepared to take action if necessary.
Cameron said he talked with a Jefferson County official who said that there was no indication of any of possible tsunami activity in that county.
A tsunami-advisory alert, which is more dire, warns of possible dangerous waves and potential flooding of beach and harbor areas, according to the state’s Washington Military Department.
“For the people in the Gulf of Alaska, that tsunami and any wave action was pretty insignificant,” Cameron said.
“As the moments went by, it became less and less of an emergency, and it became clear we were not going to be in the gun sights of a tsunami.”
Cameron said it was the first tsunami watch since the March 11, 2011 magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan, killing 16,000 people and sending disaster debris that reached the shores of Washington state.
During watch status, emergency personnel monitor the earthquake activity, set alert protocols to contact citizens and plan for affected areas to be evacuated, Cameron said.
“Initially, it was reported as an 8.0, and people got rightfully excited, so we stood up the EOC and decided to monitor the situation to see if we needed to wake everybody up and go from there,” he said.
With help from the Port Angeles Police Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and Lower Elwha Emergency Management, EOC personnel contacted state emergency management officials and other emergency operations centers.
Cameron said the Alaska earthquake also served as an apt time to notify the public that Clallam County will debut a new emergency alert system in about two weeks.
It will replace the current system and includes an app for alerting residents about disaster conditions and how to deal with them.
Cameron said a proposed $14,500 annual contract for the new CodeRED alert system is being reviewed by the county prosecuting attorney’s office. The system is more user-friendly for EOC personnel than the current Everbridge system and offers a mobile app to alert residents of impending danger.
“It will be easier to deploy the information,” Cameron said.
CodeRED would replace the existing contract with Everbridge, which costs the county $18,000 a year, Cameron said.
Cameron expects the new system to be in place by Feb. 28.
Under both systems, all phone book yellow pages and white pages are downloaded onto a database that is used to notify residents of an emergency by using a reverse 9-1-1 system.
“If we are evacuating because of a tsunami, we use the reverse 9-1-1 function for people in the affected area for all land lines,” Cameron said.
Residents also can “pick and choose” how to be alerted, whether by email, cellphone, or text message.
“We cover a variety of means to get the word out,” Cameron said.
To register for alerts in Clallam County, see http://www.clallam.net/EmergencyManagement/. For alerts in Jefferson County, see http://www.co.jefferson.wa.us/950/Dept-of-Emergency-Management
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
