Last week’s tsunami evacuation didn’t just involve getting everyone out of their house – it involved getting most residents awake and out of bed. Despite this challenge, the city succeeded by most measures in getting people to high ground on Friday morning.

“I think this is a community that’s used to doing things anytime of the day or night. The seafood processing plants reacted immediately. Public safety and volunteers came in,” says City Manager Hladick. “There’s maybe some delay with people being foggy and waking up, but I think the community takes it seriously.”

He says that getting all hands on deck and having safety vehicles provide back-up in areas where the alert siren was hard to hear was critical in warning people of a potential tsunami. And he adds that quick decision making was important in making sure that all happened with plenty of time. The 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit just before 3am, and the warning came at 3:27. By 3:34, the city was mobilized for the arrival of a potential wave at 4:12.

While the on-ground efforts were effective in drawing people to higher ground, Hladick says that there are still some things that could improved – especially with regard to spreading information. During the evacuation, the cell phone system was overloaded, and no messages were sent by Nixle – the city’s text message alert system. And there were communication problems at higher levels, too. The city wasn’t initially alerted by the Alaska and West Coast Tsunami Warning Center, though contact was made later.

“The communication with the Tsunami Warning Center could be improved, and we’ll talk to them about that,” says Hladick. “But I know that they also get inundated with calls as soon as a warning is sent out.”

Ultimately, though, the evacuation from residential areas and processing plants went smoothly. And in the end, it turned out to be for naught anyway. The wave never arrived, and no damage was done on the island.