Years of preparation and global coordination ensured communities from Japan to Hawaii were not caught off guard.
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At the centre of this remarkable response was the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) based in Hawaii; founded in 1949, by the 1960s it was monitoring tsunamis across the entire ocean. A small team of experts identified the size and depth of the earthquake, and a tsunami warning was triggered straight away. The whole thing worked like clockwork – their speed and accuracy may have saved thousands of lives, with temporary evacuees now allowed to return home.
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In Hawaii, for example, tsunami warning sirens blared. Evacuations were ordered for some coastal areas as the Honolulu department of emergency management warned: “Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected.” People received alerts on their phones. All islands activated emergency operating centres, shelters opened, and people in coastal areas were told to go to higher ground.
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“It looks like it’s been very effective. People had that long-term education, and that long-term readiness to know what to do,” says Kelman, estimating that this preparedness saved thousands of lives. At this time of year there is a lot of tourist activity along many Pacific coastlines, and visitors are often unfamiliar with local warning systems or evacuation zones. This can make evacuations more challenging.
“It appears from places where the tsunami wave has hit, numerous lives were saved by drawing on that past experience,” says Kelman, notably the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami which killed more than 200,000 people. At the time there was no regional tsunami early warning system in place, and the Indian ocean was not considered a high-risk area. Some warnings were sent by fax and email, and didn’t reach people in time.
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