By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

THE Emergency Management Office has told a lawmaker that local radio stations caused confusion during last month’s tsunami warning.
This confusion was the reason that EMO Director Greg A. Deleon Guerrero called an emergency meeting with the media a few days after the tsunami warning on Jan. 13.
In his letter to Rep. Francisco S. Dela Cruz, Covenant-Saipan, the EMO director said “major confusion occured when the local radio stations started their announcements of an ‘all-clear or cancelled’ notice for the tsunami warning.”
The radio announcements, he said, were based on the cancellation notice posted on the Web site of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and not from EMO’s official announcement bulletin.
Deleon Guerrero said “different actions are required on each notification, whether the CNMI is being placed in an advisory, watch, warning, or cancellation from the PTWC.”
But on every PTWC bulletin notice, there is an evaluation summary on other actions that EMO may need to consider, Deleon Guerrero said.
He said EMO received a call from National Weather Services meteorologist Chip Guard on Jan. 13 advising them of a tsunami warning.
On that day, the PTWC placed CNMI on a tsunami warning at 3:41 p.m.
All procedures were followed based on the information received by PTWC, Deleon Guerrero said.
“The premature announcement by the media is of great concern,” he said, “as it may create a negative impact on the credibility of the CNMI government.”
He said the general public may start relying on local media instead of the official notification from the government.
This practice must stop, he said, or it may place the general public in danger.
Regarding the cancellation notice at 5:23 p.m., Deleon Guerrero said it was “recommended that we observe the waves — no major wave had been observed in the two-hours after the expected time of arrival of the damaging wave.”
It would have been 7:23 p.m. when EMO assumed that the threat had passed, Deleon Guerrero
But the radio stations on that day made their announcement of cancellation hours earlier, he said.
During the meeting with the media on Jan. 19, Deleon Guerrero said he stressed the liability of the media, particularly the radio stations, in announcing unofficial information without securing confirmation from their office.
“It is very risky on their part,” he said, referring to the radio stations.
Instead of surfing the Internet for information, he added, radio disc jockeys should check the appropriate source — the EMO Web site, www.cnmiemo.gov.mp — regarding any emergency situation.
Deleon Guerrero told Dela Cruz the he welcomes the assistance and support of the Legislature because he believes that “through collaborative efforts of all those concerned and affected, the development of a more comprehensive procedure and policy guideline for both the government and the local media with regard to information dissemination can be accomplished.”