Alaska’s Emergency Operations Center has cancelled an annual test of the system responsible for alerting Alaskans about potential tsunamis.
Each month, the National Tsunami Warning Center tests the system that alerts the coast guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency and other entities to tsunami activity. But once a year, the test goes further – and the warning is broadcast on public radio and television stations and sent to residents’ cell phones.
That usually happens in late March, around the anniversary of the 1964 Great Alaska earthquake. But the test has been canceled for this year. According to an email the Emergency Operations Center sent earlier this week, the test would not happen “due to a few factors beyond our control.”
Jeremy Zidek, a spokesperson for the state emergency operations center, said the system has been activated two times since July of 2023, when it was triggered by real warnings.
“Based on that information and the data that was gathered, it just looked like the test wasn’t going to be necessary to gauge if the system worked or not,” he said.
The tsunami warning system was activated in December by an earthquake in California and again in July of 2023 after an earthquake near the Aleutian islands. Zidek said the tests are crucial to ensure the system is working as intended, but that it’s also important not to do them too frequently.
“We want to make sure that the system is fully working, and we believe it is,” Zidek said. “But we don’t want to overtest it and then people become a little bit desensitized to the warnings when they’re real.”
Both the tests and real warnings have malfunctioned before, highlighting issues with the system. That includes after the 2023 earthquake near the Aleutians. The system sent out emergency alerts to people in communities that were not actually at risk.
Also in 2023, the annual test did not reach a handful of communities it should have, including Ketchikan and Sitka. Dave Snider, the Tsunami Warning Coordinator with the National Tsunami Warning Center, said that was largely due to confusion over which test was happening. Another factor was a coding failure, which he said has since been ironed out.
The Tsunami Warning Center, the National Weather Service headquarters in Alaska and the state all agreed the warning wasn’t needed this year, Snider said. Still, he emphasized the importance of regularly testing the system to be sure it – and the communities who rely on it – are ready if a tsunami does happen.
“We haven’t had a big one, or, you know, one that’s locally impactful in a really long time. That doesn’t mean that they don’t exist,” Snider said. “So just reminding folks there in your community that you know they do need to have a plan.”
He added that natural warning signs in coastal communities can be just as crucial as alert systems. Think: hearing a deep rumble, feeling the earth shake or observing unusual ocean behavior.
“In places like Haines, those natural warning signs will save their lives,” Snider said.
