[EAS] Quake and Tsunami Warnings

[suzanne at mab.org]

Click on the newspaper name below to access the complete article.  PS, a 6.2 quake just hit Nagano - CNN reporting it's not an aftershock, but a separate quake.

Wall_Street_Journal
TOKYO--Some people in Tokyo were warned that a major earthquake was about to hit before they felt a tremor.
As an 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan's northeastern coast Friday, the world's first early warning system--developed by the country's meteorological agency--detected the quake's shockwave near the seismic center and sent off the warning message, which appeared on national television and radio as well as mobile phone screens.

New_York_Times

"The spectacle was all the more remarkable for being carried live on television..."

"Power blackouts were affecting about 2 million residents around Tokyo alone, the government said. Cell phone service was severely affected across central and northern Japan as residents rushed to call friends and relatives as aftershocks struck."

Wall_Street_Journal

Near Tokyo Station, "Cell phone reception was down, causing long lines to snake around pay phones. ... People were huddled around televisions, trying to grasp the extent of the damage in Japan."

"Unable to use cellphones, many used their smartphones to tune into television broadcasts and find out what had happened.  'It's very convenient being able to watch live TV when the phones are down,' said Minori Naito, an employee of Royal Bank of Scotland in Tokyo. 'Otherwise, we'd have no idea what is going on.' "

-----Original Message-----
From: "Adrienne Abbott" <nevadaeas at charter.net>

I'm getting questions this morning about the use of the warning systems in
Japan and the other areas affected by the quake and tsunami. Were the
warning systems used in Japan and other countries successfully deployed to
the citizenry? Were the warnings effective? Did they save lives? How were
the warnings issued? Did it make a difference that the quake and tsunami
occurred during the day on that side of the world?

What about our warning systems here-we have reports that EAS activations
were issued and I know California's EDIS was used to issue warnings and
information. Did these messages get to the proper agencies, officials,
media, and the public? How was the information sent out in Alaska,
Washington State and Oregon? Were Emergency Managers able to issue warnings
through broadcast as well as other media? Do officials think all the "live
code" testing of the tsunami network made a difference? Did the EAS
activations go through on all the broadcast stations as planned? Is anyone
going to collect information on the EAS activations and review that data?
Does this event tell us anything about the use of CAP? Are we headed in the
right direction? Is there anything we can learn from this event, especially
in light of the upcoming Part 11 rewrite?

Even here in the High Desert, our State Emergency Operations Center
partially geared up to provide support for our neighbors over the "hill" in
California. What was the impact/reaction from other, non-coastal states?

Adrienne

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