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http://www.accuweather.com/news-weather-features.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&date=2009-10-02_16:10&month=10&year=2009

 

 

Tsunami Siren System Could Have Saved More Lives 

 
Posted 2009-10-02 

A senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service (NWS), in an exclusive interview with AccuWeather.com, said more could have been done to warn people of the approaching  

 

 

By Gina Cherundolo 
AccuWeather.com 

 
A senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service (NWS), in an exclusive interview 
with AccuWeather.com, said more could have been done to warn people of the 
approaching tsunami that killed at least 150 people in the South Pacific. 
 
Rescue and recovery efforts are underway in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga 
following the tsunami caused by an 8.0-magnitude earthquake that hit about 7.48 a.m. 
local time. 
 
 

 

 

Devastation on a hillside in Pago, American Samoa after tsunami waves swept ashore early Tuesday 
Sept. 29, 2009. A powerful Pacific Ocean earthquake spawned towering tsunami waves that swept 
ashore on Samoa and American Samoa, flooding and flattening villages. (AP Photo/Ardie Roque) 

 
 
 
Akapo Akapo of the NWS in PagoPago, American Samoa said the tsunami warning came 
after the wave surges hit the island. He added that a siren system could have saved lives 
in the United States territory. 
 
"We do need a siren. If we had a siren, we probably would have saved most of the people 
who had died because of the tsunami," he said to AccuWeather.com's Raychel Harvey-
Jones. 
 
Akapo said the American Samoa has a volcanic and mountainous landscape, which 
enables people to climb to higher ground to escape any flooding. 
 
"Almost everywhere around American Samoa, you have people living on the ocean, and 
then right behind there a few yards or a few feet up, there's a mountain behind you; there's 
a hill you can climb up to," he said. 

 

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The 8.0-magnitude quake that hit south of the islands early Tuesday afternoon EDT 
caused four tsunami waves that hit the islands within minutes. The wave height was about 
5.1 feet, and water reached as far as a mile inland. 
 
"There was no time...when the earthquake occurred, it took only 15 minutes from the time 
when the earthquake hit and the time when the tsunami reached our islands," Akapo said. 
"It was so fast that [it was] very difficult to evacuate." 
 
Tsunami sirens are in place on the mainland United States, Alaska and Hawaii to warn of 
approaching wave surges. American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United 
States, and most of the territory's villages and communities are near the coastline. 
 
"Sirens have proven themselves, time and time again, to be invaluable tools for short-term 
warning of tornadoes, tsunamis, flash floods and wild fires," said Mike Smith, CEO of 
Weather Data, a AccuWeather.com company and private weather service in Wichita, Kan. 
that specializes in warnings of extreme weather. "Academic studies have shown the public 
appreciates the added safety sirens provide." 
 
Smith added that the approximate cost of protecting the populated areas of American 
Samoa would be around $100,000. 
 
"In the United States, a comparable warning for tornadoes 15 minutes in advance 
activates the sirens, which gives people plenty of time to seek safety," said 
AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity.