The Strathcona Regional District will be testing its Tsunami Warning system for residents of west coast communities.
The test will go out on the district’s free emergency notification system Alertable on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m., and will include an SMS text, a phone call to a cellphone and landline, an email or notification through the Alertable app, and other methods, depending on how subscribers have chosen to receive notifications.
The test is occurring during the evening to better ensure that people will directly receive and listen to the notifications sent to their landlines.
An SRD release says that the test will allow them to increase public awareness of the system, validate the effectiveness and reliability of the system, give staff the chance to practice sending alerts and give the public the chance to provide feedback.
The test will only involve the SRD’s alert system. Other notifications including the Coast Guard’s marine radio channel, weather radio channels, other government alert systems and community sirens will not be tested.
To prepare, the SRD suggests downloading the Alertable app, and signing up for the system through the SRD website.
“Alertable will likely only be utilized in the event of a distant tsunami that is generated from an area such as Alaska,” the SRD release says. “If a very long earthquake occurs close to our coast (20 seconds or longer), there will be no time for an official warning to be issued due to infrastructure being critically damaged. You must rely on recognizing the natural warning signs of a tsunami.”
“An earthquake is the most likely natural warning sign that a tsunami is coming. Other natural warning signs include the ocean water moving far out exposing the sea floor or hearing an unusually load roar from the coast,” the release says. “If you are in a tsunami evacuation zone and observe any of these natural warnings, move to higher ground or inland as soon as it is safe to do so. There may be as little as 10 minutes between the earthquake and tsunami.”
| Community | Distant/Alaska Tsunami Arrival Time | Inundation Level | Local/Cascadia Tsunami Arrival Time | Inundation Level |
|
Kyuquot |
3 hours 4 minutes |
4.7 m |
25 minutes | 12.4 m |
| Fair Harbour | 3 hours 18 minutes | 5.1 m | 45 minutes | 6.9 m |
| Oclucje | 3 hours 20 minutes | 3.4 m | 38 minutes | 10.9 m |
| Zeballos/Ehatis | 3 hours 31 minutes | 3.9 m | 46 minutes | 6.8 m |
| Tahsis | 3 hours 41 minutes | 5 m | 54 minutes | 7.5 m |
| Gold River Waterfront | 3 hours 44 minutes | 6.8 m | 59 minutes | 11.2 m |
| Yuquot | 3 hours 36 minutes | 2.9 m | 28 minutes | 11.9 m |
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Alert-system testEmergency PreparednessStrathcona Regional District
