NOAA read out from Jan. 23 with a water displacement 32 ft. after the Alaska earthquake.
The Pacific County Emergency Management Agency was put to the ultimate test on Jan. 23 when a large 7.9 magnitude earthquake shook the ocean floor 181 miles southeast of Kodiak, Alaska at 1:31 a.m.
Director of PCEMA Scott McDougall tells us, "I was notified by PacCom at roughly 1:42 a.m. about the quake. We had our first hyper-alert issued around 1:47 a.m and I was in the Emergency Operations Center around 2:00 a.m."
McDougall explained to us that the particular quake rendered all National Tsunami Warning Center buoy information from or near the epicenter irrelevant due to the type of quake that struck, known as a strike-strip. Strike-strip quakes are the result of two fault lines rubbing against each other instead of "colliding and binding" like typical large magnitude quakes.
One NOAA buoy recorded a 10 meter (32 feet) displacement of water near the epicenter of the initial quake. It was later explained that while there was a displacement it was not an indication of a tsunami, but a result of the strike-slip quake causing the ocean to churn like a washing machine.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has come under fire for what many are criticizing as a lack of information during the tsunami watch and a long line of excuses. After the first watch was issued little to no additional information was published until the cancellation of the watch at 4:11 a.m. NOAA has blamed the government shutdown and lack of adequate personnel for the discrepancy of information.
"We were in the EOC waiting for additional information to pour in and it never came," McDougall told us. "So basically we had to make the best decision possible with the information we had. I even called the state EOC and they were operating with the same information we had."
Any tsunami if one was generated by the initial quake and strong aftershocks would have hit the Washington coast line around 5:00 a.m. with high tide anticipated at 5:08 a.m.
McDougall told us, "I can assure you Sheriff Johnson and I along with Sgt. Moon of Washington State Patrol had a thorough discussion about evacuations even with the lack of information coming into us from NTWC. We had to make the best decision possible and I feel with what we had, we made the right one not to evacuate."
Many residents didn't receive a hyper-reach notification because they never opted-in for weather alerts. "We have removed that option and everyone is now being opted-in so this doesn't happen again," McDougall told us. As of the time of this article hyper-reach has had an additional 2,000 subscribers in Pacific County.
Speaking with neighboring Grays Harbor Emergency Management about the tsunami watch Director Charles Wallace told us, "We are all coming under the microscope over this and I cannot iterate enough that residents in both counties need to be prepared. AHAB sirens will not wake you out of your sleep so have a NOAA weather alert radio with alerts you can't turn off. It's still the best way to know what is happening."
PCEMA had their EOC operating within 30 minutes of the quake and had all necessary staff on deck for any event that could result. "We were fully ready to issue any additional warning including initiating the AHAB sirens, sending out alerts, or going door to door," McDougall told us, " We were completely ready and thankfully it wasn't needed."
Both McDougall and Wallace were adamant in their respective interviews of the importance that all local residents be prepared not only for a tsunami, but for any natural or man caused disaster. They recommend residents have emergency supplies always ready encase its needed in a moments notice.
"The should have food, water, first aid, radio with NOAA notifications, and all necessities for at least 3 days and up to 2 weeks,' McDougall previously told us. "We can only do so much, so residents need to be just as prepared for any such event. Had NOAA issued a warning at 4:11 a.m. instead of a cancellation were not talking about much time for residents to get to high ground."
PCEMA has information available for residents if they would like to know about what the should have in a emergency kit along with how to be prepared for any disaster.