According to the Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council chairman, a warning system will allow residents to take appropriate measures that can prevent catastrophic consequences of an impending tsunami, especially those residing in the coastal and low-lying areas.
Saipan residents learned about the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 from those who were watching CNN. Among the local radio stations, KWAW 100.3 interrupted its regular programming at around 6 p.m. to read a bulletin from the Emergency Management Office, which posted its tsunami warning on its website.
The Variety posted the same advisory on its online edition that night.
Camacho said since last year, he has been asking the governor’s office for the immediate installation of an electronic warning system.
He wrote a letter to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial regarding the need to secure residents in the coastal villages after a tsunami struck American Samoa last year.
Camacho is once again reminding the governor’s office of the “perennial problem with the lack of timely notification and response” on the part of EMO and the CNMI Homeland Security Office.
He said the municipal council recognizes the efforts of the two offices in putting up tsunami evacuation signs along Saipan’s airport and back roads.
“However, unlike the islands of Tinian and Rota, which have advanced warning alert sirens, Saipan still does not have even a single siren, let alone a bullhorn, a public address system, or even a system set up with pre-recorded village-specific messages…with specialized instructions directed at residents most vulnerable to an onslaught of waves with very limited window of escape time,” he said in his letter to Acting Gov. Eloy S. Inos.
Camacho said as municipal leaders, “we do not take this responsibility lightly, especially when it involves the loss of innocent lives due to the negligence of appropriate government agencies.”
Camacho said they are offering the assistance of the Saipan Neighborhood Watch in the pilot villages on Saipan as part of a public outreach that aims to build the capacity of residents to respond to emergencies or disaster situations.
The council, he added, is appealing to the governor to enable Homeland Security and EMO to implement a reliable and effective system of mass notification through a text messaging alert system in cooperation with telecommunication companies.
He said this mass notification system is common on college campuses in Hawaii and in mainland U.S.
“This could minimize unnecessary confusion, panic attacks and anxiety caused by the lack of information, as was the case over the mass shooting that occurred on Saipan last year and the last tsunami that hit Japan,” he said.
