On April 1, the 58th anniversary of the most destructive tsunami in the history of Hawaii, Hawaii State Civil Defense (HSCD) conducted its annual statewide Tsunami Exercise. The objective was to test state warning and communications systems as well as protocol for responding to a simulated tsunami generated by a hypothetical local magnitude 7.6 earthquake off the southeast coast of Hawaii’s Big Island.
1) HAZUS Model Run for Tsunami Exercise, April 1
PDC played a key role by providing modeled loss and impact information about the hypothetical local earthquake that generated the simulated tsunami. PDC’s responsibility is to run the Hazards U.S. (HAZUS) model and provide potential impact information to State officials following the earthquake.
Civil Defense planners refer to HAZUS information during the
preliminary planning phase of the April 1, 2004 Statewide Tsunami Exercise.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) HAZUS model software program estimates structural, social, and economic damage resulting from an earthquake. The exercise scenario HAZUS output showed significant damage on the Big Island caused by the earthquake that triggered the tsunami. PDC ran the HAZUS model as soon as the earthquake data became available and posted the results on its restricted EMOPS (Emergency Operations) web site that serves Hawaii’s emergency managers. While PDC was working on generating and posting the HAZUS output to its web site during the tsunami exercise, Hawaii State Civil Defense planners analyzed used data from a similar-sized historical earthquake to get a head start on their preliminary response plans. Data from this drill can be used in future training scenarios as well.
2) Hawaii HAZUS Atlas
PDC is working with decision makers from Hawaii State Civil Defense and scientists from the Hawaii State Earthquake Advisory Committee to develop a collection of different earthquake loss estimation scenarios using FEMA’s HAZUS modeling software to be compiled in the Hawaii HAZUS Atlas. As was demonstrated in the exercise, such an Atlas will be very useful to emergency managers because when an earthquake occurs on the Big Island, officials can quickly select a similar event from the Hawaii HAZUS Atlas to begin preparing their preliminary response plans.
While long-distance tsunami warning systems have improved, tsunamis generated by local earthquakes, particularly off the coast of the Big Island, are of concern because they give little or no warning to Big Island residents and require immediate action by emergency responders.
3) Automated Tsunami Alert System
Since the 1946 Aleutian Islands Tsunami that devastated Hilo and Laupahoehoe on the Big Island and killed 159 people, advances in science and technology, such as PDC’s Automated Tsunami Alert System, have enabled officials to provide several hours of warning for tsunamis generated by distant earthquakes. For more information about PDC’s Automated Tsunami Alert System, please see a related web story describing the system’s use during a recent earthquake event, http://www.pdc.org/PDCNewsWebArticles/2003Tsunami/index.html
4) Training for Hawaii Officials
In addition to the tsunami training exercise, HSCD recently sponsored a program that provided video cameras and laptop computers with video editing software to the counties of Kauai, Maui, Hawaii, and city and county of Honolulu, with funding from the NOAA Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program. The video cameras will be used by county agency personnel to capture video footage of tsunami damage when it occurs, and if possible, footage of tsunamis coming ashore. PDC staff trained county personnel around the state or how to use the video cameras and edit video footage using software on the laptops. Although the video cameras were not used during the April 1st exercise, during real events, trained personnel will be prepared to use the video equipment to capture important data and information for response and planning purposes.
5) PDC’s Co-chairing of the Disaster Management Monitoring and Mitigation Subcommittee of the Japan United States Technology and Space Applications Program (JUSTSAP)
This exercise, as well as earlier exercises this year, contributes directly to the PDC's involvement in the JUSTSAP for which the PDC is the co-chair for the Disaster Management, Monitoring, and Mitigation Subcommittee. Under the three-phased JUSTSAP program, one component, dealing specifically with tsunami early warning and response, plans to test space-based and new technology applications for disaster managers in Japan and the US. The present exercise provides valuable "ground truthing" for the overall program. The JUSTSAP subcommittee will meet in Hawaii in November 2004.
