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U.S. Tsunami Preparedness: Federal and State Partners Collaborate to Help Communities Reduce Potential Impacts, but Significant Challenges Remain

GAO-06-519 Published: Jun 05, 2006. Publicly Released: Jun 05, 2006.
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Highlights

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami raised questions about U.S. preparedness for such an event. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) leads U.S. detection and warning efforts and partners with federal and state agencies in the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) to reduce tsunami risks. In 2005, Congress appropriated $17.24 million in supplemental funding to enhance these efforts. This report (1) identifies U.S. coastal areas facing the greatest tsunami hazard and the extent to which potential impacts have been assessed, (2) discusses the effectiveness of the existing federal tsunami warning system, (3) describes efforts to mitigate the potential impacts of tsunamis on coastal communities, and (4) assesses NOAA's efforts to develop long-range plans for federal tsunami programs.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Commerce To help improve national tsunami preparedness, the Secretary of Commerce should direct the NOAA Administrator to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency Director and the U.S. Geological Survey Director to create standardized tsunami loss estimation software to help communities determine the potential impact of tsunamis and identify appropriate mitigation actions.
Closed – Implemented
In a September 2006 meeting of the White House Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction, NOAA officials initiated coordination with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for the development of a tsunami module to add to FEMA's existing hazard loss estimation software, and also discussed the need for FEMA to receive additional funding for its completion. NOAA will continue to support the development of a tsunami module for FEMA's loss estimation software and other tsunami mitigation products and decision tools.
Department of Commerce To help improve national tsunami preparedness, the Secretary of Commerce should direct the NOAA Administrator to reduce the number of tsunami warning false alarms by (1) completing the planned expansion of tsunami detection stations, (2) reexamining the National Weather Service's rules dictating when a warning will be issued and to which areas, (3) establishing a routine process for other federal and state experts to formally review and comment on the centers' use of seismic data, and (4) setting performance goals to guide improvements.
Closed – Implemented
This recommendation consisted of four sub-parts. NOAA has addressed each of them. First, NOAA completed the planned expansion of its deep-ocean tsunami detection stations (known as DART buoys) in March 2008. Second, NOAA conducted a review of the criteria it uses to determine when alerts are issued and to which area, which was published in the Science of Tsunami Hazards Journal in May 2008. Third, in 2006, NOAA expanded the scope of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program Warning Coordination Subcommittee to include state and federal scientific experts, and uses this as a venue to review warning guidance procedures as requested by the subcommittee members. Fourth, the NOAA Tsunami Program produced a strategic plan, which contains, among other things, performance measures for assessing the timeliness and accuracy of tsunami forecast and warning products that will guide improvements over the next 5 years.
Department of Commerce To help improve national tsunami preparedness, the Secretary of Commerce should direct the NOAA Administrator to work with the states to conduct periodic end-to-end tests of the tsunami warning system, including NOAA Weather Radio and the Emergency Alert System, to ensure the system will function as intended during a tsunami emergency.
Closed – Implemented
NOAA officials have met with the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP), which includes state emergency managers, to discuss end-to-end testing of the tsunami warning system. With NOAA's support, the NTHMP agreed to encourage states to participate in end-to-end testing and to make the topic an agenda item for future NTHMP annual meetings. Furthermore, NOAA has directly contacted the states of California, Oregon, and Washington to encourage end-to-end testing. As a result, on June 20, 2007, NOAA met with the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services to develop a strategy for a joint end-to-end tsunami communications exercise in California with the state of Alaska planned for March 2008.
Department of Commerce To help improve national tsunami preparedness, the Secretary of Commerce should direct the NOAA Administrator to evaluate the TsunamiReady program to determine what barriers, if any, exist to participation and what modifications are needed to encourage more high-risk communities to participate.
Closed – Not Implemented
In April 2010 we issued another report on the status of U.S. tsunami preparedness. During the fieldwork we followed-up with NOAA on the status of this recommendation. As we found out and later reported in GAO-10-490, NOAA has not conducted a formal assessment to identify barriers to or possible incentives for participating in the TsunamiReady program as we recommend in 2006. As such, this recommendation will be closed as not implemented.
Department of Commerce To help improve national tsunami preparedness, the Secretary of Commerce should direct the NOAA Administrator to evaluate the NTHMP to determine what has worked well in the past and what high priority activities remain to be completed and to help inform strategic planning efforts.
Closed – Implemented
From May 15-17, 2007, NOAA hosted an external assessment of the NTHMP in Seattle, Washington. The review addressed past goal attainment, impacts of the Tsunami Warning and Education Act (PL 109-424), and provided recommendations for program improvements. Information on the assessment including individual assessments by the five external review panel members can be retrieved from the NTHMP's website: http://nthmp.tsunami.gov/assessments.html
Department of Commerce To help improve national tsunami preparedness, the Secretary of Commerce should direct the NOAA Administrator to develop comprehensive risk-based strategic plans for the Tsunami Program and National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program that consider input from states and federal partners and include metrics for measuring progress toward achieving program goals.
Closed – Implemented
NOAA issued its Tsunami Program Strategic Plan for 2008-2017 on 7/31/08 and the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program completed its strategic plan on 11/20/08.

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Topics

Disaster planningEmergency managementEmergency preparednessIntergovernmental relationsRisk assessmentTsunamisWarning systemsWeather forecastingCoastlineRadio