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County emergency manager urges planning after near‑source tsunami response; March 26 community drill set
Summary
Humboldt County’s emergency office presented findings from a December 5 near‑source earthquake and tsunami warning, highlighting the need for household planning, multilingual alerts under Assembly Bill 1638, and a countywide tsunami drill on March 26.
Humboldt County emergency officials briefed the Eureka City Council on after‑action findings from the Dec. 5 near‑source earthquake and tsunami warning, and announced a first‑ever communitywide tsunami drill for March 26 to test evacuations to high ground.
Ryan Derby, Humboldt County emergency manager, told the council that a near‑source tsunami can bring hazardous waves to the North Coast within 10–15 minutes after shaking. “In those situations, the earthquake itself is the warning,” Derby said, explaining that there is little time to rely on sirens or smartphone alerts to prompt evacuations.
Derby said multiple agencies issued alerts during the Dec. 5 event, including an automated tsunami warning from the National Tsunami Warning Center (delivered via Wireless Emergency Alerts). He and other presenters noted that Wireless Emergency Alerts currently send messages only in English; the county is planning geotargeted, simultaneous English‑and‑Spanish follow‑ups to meet the requirements of Assembly Bill 1638, which requires multilingual emergency information when a jurisdiction’s non‑English population meets certain thresholds.
County and city officials described strengths — early public alerting, school evacuation practice in some small coastal communities, and successful staffing of bilingual call‑centers during the incident review — and areas for improvement. Officials said one problem during the event was that the California Geological Survey’s tsunami hazard website briefly crashed under high traffic, hampering public access to hazard maps.
Derby and Humboldt Bay Fire Chief Citro urged household planning and education that, in a near‑source event, people in inundation zones should evacuate on foot to nearby high ground rather than wait for official notice or drive. Citro said that in Old Town Eureka reaching a safe block of Broadway can be a two‑to‑three‑block walk and recommended clearly posted, designated collection points for evacuees.
Council questions focused on whether WEA alerts could be sent in other languages and on geofencing. Derby said federal WEA rules limit polygon complexity and language options; the county’s plan is to issue parallel local or geotargeted alerts in Spanish where warranted while creating outreach to help residents find inundation maps and practice routes.
A communitywide tsunami drill sponsored by the Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group — covering Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties — is scheduled for 11 a.m. on March 26, Derby said. The drill will be used to test walking evacuations, public messaging, and designated gathering sites in small coastal communities.
