<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Friday, March 29, 2024
March 29, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Seaside, Ore., assesses its tsunami warning system

City councilor: ‘I’m not sure we needed the sirens in the first place. ... They weren’t really going to save lives’

By R.J. MARX, Seaside Signal
Published: April 2, 2022, 6:57pm
2 Photos
A tsumani warning tower stands tall in north Seaside, Ore. (R.J.
A tsumani warning tower stands tall in north Seaside, Ore. (R.J. Marks/Seaside Signal) Photo Gallery

SEASIDE, Ore. — Resident Jennifer North didn’t hear Seaside’s tsunami test sirens in January. She didn’t hear them in February, either, despite alerts to her phone that tests would be underway.

She said she remembered when the sirens were tested monthly and could be heard clearly throughout the city.

When she received an alert of a siren test in early March, she listened for the sirens. When she didn’t hear them go off, she wondered if the system was working.

“I think maybe we should go back to that, because things get rusty around here,” North said. “It’s mechanical. It needs to be tested more often. I am honestly concerned for our community.”

Geologist Tom Horning, a Seaside city councilor, acknowledged that he also hadn’t been hearing Seaside’s sirens during scheduled drills, but whether that would make a difference in the “big one” — a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and tsunami — was questionable.

The likelihood of the use of the sirens in an event close to the Oregon Coast is slim, as it will be preceded by a three- to five-minute earthquake that no one will miss.

“I’m not sure we needed the sirens in the first place,” Horning said. “I felt when we were spending the money that we were putting way too much into the sirens, because they weren’t really going to save lives. On the one hand, they have marginal value to life and safety and a high demand for attention and care. The thing that saves lives is getting your butt up and out the door.”

Seaside operates an emergency warning system composed of a series of speakers mounted on poles around the city. In the event of a sudden emergency such as a distant tsunami, the warning system will be activated to alert individuals of the threat. The sirens emit an intermittent three-minute blast. The emergency warning system is not intended to be audible indoors, but to warn those near the water to move to higher ground.

Before World War II, the bell that is now at the top of the fire station was used to alert volunteer firefighters to a fire in the city. After the war, the sirens continued as a fire alert for volunteers until 1991, on the first day of the Persian Gulf War.

Today there are six warning sirens in Seaside: 24th and North Holladay, 11th and Broadway, Broadway east of Wahanna, Avenue G at the Prom, public works, and the Cove and Seltzer Park. Additional sirens are located in Gearhart at Little Beach and at the 10th Street beach entrance.

The city activated warning sirens in 2011 after the Fukushima, Japan, quake, leading many to evacuate to higher ground and an emergency response.

Seaside’s sirens were not triggered by January’s volcanic blast in distant Tonga.

“We act based on all information at hand, and we monitor what other communities are doing as far away as Hawaii, Alaska,” public information officer Esther Moberg said. “Social media, the national alert system and other tools are all useful in helping us know what is coming.”

Testing this month

All eight sirens should be fully operational, Moberg said. “We will be testing that again thoroughly in April with a staff person at each siren in person,” she said.

“The sirens are tested once a month, with a break during June-August,” she added. “The test is typically broadcast voice only and is not the actual sirens. You will be able to hear the sirens clearly in the event of an emergency.”

Sometimes people report they do not hear a siren, Moberg said. “Because we are only testing a voice-operated test, this is not always heard indoors,” she said.

Testing is limited to once a month so people don’t become so complacent that in the real scenario, no one reacts.

“That would be very unfortunate,” Moberg said. “Once a month is plenty to make sure sirens are working and people have a chance to listen in without disrupting anyone’s daily lives.”

“In the past, we have noticed that sirens would bounce off each other when set off at the same exact time,” said Anne McBride, the city’s emergency preparedness coordinator, “so during a test, they will be sometimes released in a sequence to prevent sound wave reverberation.”

Loading...