After the recent earthquake, residents were shaken and wondering where to best get information and instruction. Tom Mattice of the City and Borough of Juneau’s emergency management department said CBJ is working on upgrading emergency communication, but that having a plan in place is an individual or family’s best course of action.
If an earthquake of a certain magnitude occurs within a certain distance, a tsunami warning is automatically generated for all of Southeast Alaska.
“But that’s different for each community,” Mattice said, “We’re not critically vulnerable.”
Mattice’s advice is that if the quake is 20 seconds or greater in duration or if you are knocked down, you might want to head for higher ground.
If there’s no emergency communication, either there’s no real emergency, or it’s a real emergency but there was no time for warning. That’s why Mattice suggests residents shouldn’t expect to rely on emergency broadcasts anyway.
That being said, the City is working to have accurate and informative emergency alerts. This week, there should be updates to the City’s website, juneau.org, though you won’t notice them unless there is an emergency. Mattice will be able to update the city’s website with a red banner with emergency information. There would be a link anyone could copy and paste to share emergency information via news sites or social media.
Many residents turned to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to share their experiences or to seek information from others. If you’ve noticed so far there is no presence from the City or Capital City Fire and Rescue, it’s not because it hasn’t been discussed. Juneau Police Department does have a twitter account (@JuneauPD), as does the Parks and Recreation department.
“We’ve considered having social media,” Mattice said, “But with good things come bad things.”
Fire Chief Richard Etheridge said he had pitched the idea of social media for the fire department before, but it had been denied.
Lt. Dave Campbell with JPD said they follow guidelines set by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, that only Cindee Brown-Mills manages the Twitter account.
Campbell’s advice for social media was to be critical about the information you’re receiving. He said he saw posts following the earthquake with links to USGS and NOAA sites, and that having a link to a legitimate site is a good sign.
Mattice said the reason social media hasn’t been adopted outside the police department and the department of Parks and Recreation is because there are liabilities associated with the use of social media. He said they’re reviewing it though; they have city lawyers and City Manager Kim Kiefer working on it.
More important than the potential for use of social media is the potential for better personalizing the messages to individual communities.
Mattice said there is currently one blanket message that goes out to all the communities, but Sitka would need to be more alert to tsunami warnings than Juneau.
“Juneau’s not at high risk for a tsunami,” Mattice said, adding “if (an earthquake) is localized enough, if it’s really dangerous, you can’t count on (emergency systems) either way.”
The City is in talks with local radio stations to potentially give Mattice’s position “a back door to radio” to provide more community-specific information in addition to the emergency alerts — but that’s still being looked into.
When it comes to communication in an emergency, Mattice said even phone lines, cellular service and Internet can go down, so social media isn’t going to work any better than the emergency alert system as is. He said if a person is really anxious to hear up-to-the-minute information about quake activity and tsunami warnings, they could get a battery powered NOAA Weather Radio and tune in.
The overwhelming message was that Juneau is pretty safe due to its location — sheltered by islands and on a strike slip fault, not a thrust fault — but in case of a major emergency, it is best to be prepared and not to count on the emergency alert system.
To prepare yourself and your family, visit juneau.org/emergency and form a plan.
• Contact reporter Melissa Griffiths at 523-2272 or at melissa.griffiths@juneauempire.com.
Comments (11)
Add commentI'm more worried...
...about Canadian commandos attacking from over the snow field and the resulting breakdown in society. That's why I'm stockpiling AR-15's and ammo, and continuing work on my bunker complex. Suggest you do the same.
I'm more worried
... about depending on our local government than ever before. He says to take care of yourself because maybe they won't be there for you in your time of need. But then he goes on to say that maybe they will be there - but then again - maybe not.
How long will it be before they insist that we need an extra-extra-extra special tax on top of those other special 911 taxes on our phone bills for extra-enhanced 911 services or some other emergency broadcast services?
Don't let a good emergency go to waste. The end is nigh without more government. Local government needs more revenue and needs only hire more people. Then everyone can relax by knowing everything will be okay.
Build the road!
One of the best ways for this town to be ready for an emergency is to build a road out of this town!
Without a hard link out, this town is not prepared for many types of emergencies!
If a natural disaster hit
If a natural disaster hit juneau that required evacuation you honestly think the road would still be there?
And I agree with the people quoted. Do you really need a warning system to tell you things are dangerous? Warning systems are nice but I got a text about the earthquake during the earthquake. If you don't know what to do in an emergency then it's your responsibility to figure it out and prepare your family. It'll be your fault for not being prepared and your family might pay the costs. Don't be a sheep. Do a goodly search and spend 10mins figuring out what you should do.
All this talk of relying on
All this talk of relying on social media in a town with an aging population.
I think the City should institute a "special" tax to buy every "poor" household a "battery powered NOAA Weather Radio" with a promise of a lifetime supply of batteries.
Don't ya think...!!!
Depends on the Natural Disaster
@Alaskastu - First, you should look up what commas are and how they are used. Anyways, you said, "If a natural disaster hit juneau that required evacuation you honestly think the road would still be there?"
Depends on the disaster! Depending on the natural distaster (what, where, and how bad), most times the road would still be there.
Also, don't be so closed-minded....."natural" disasters aren't the only emergencies! There are many other emergencies that a hard link out of town would be a necessity.
"After the recent earthquake,
"After the recent earthquake, residents were shaken..."
I see what you did there, JE.
After an earthquake
Instead of tweeting and facebooking it would be wise to go to NOAA's tsunami warning center where you can track the estimated size and time of landfall per city of a potential tsunami. They we're on top of it was very interesting to follow.
It doesn't even need to be a
It doesn't even need to be a disaster in Juneau to create an emergency here. If the waterfront in Seattle was destroyed, we've have a long wait before the grocery stores could resupply the shelves.
I slept through the
I slept through the earthquake. What good would twitter and facebook do? And the first thing I do when the emergency warning system comes on over my TV is change the channel.
If a disaster hit
As a "newbe" less than 2 years in Juneau, I was surprised and a bit shaken to feel my first earthquake. I got out of bed and felt the floor moving and watched the lights swaying as I approached the lower floor. I turned on the tv and searched for information about the quake. Not finding enough information to satisfy my needs I checked out NOAA and the USGS for more information and directions. These two sites were really helpful. After two hours of insomina, I could go back to sleep. I'd like to see more information on the tv next time.