HANMI, EMO work on tsunami safety

Although there have been no tsunamis ever recorded in the history of the CNMI, the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands is taking pro-active steps to increase its tsunami preparedness and work closely with the Emergency Management Office on emergency procedures and plans.

HANMI officials met last month with the Emergency Management Office on two occasions, and will participate in another meeting next week with a visiting expert from the U.S. Geological Survey and EMO on the topic of tsunamis.

“In the wake of the Dec. 26 tragedy in Southeast Asia, we are taking steps to increase tsunami awareness among our hotels and put in place safety plans for our employees and guests. Some say the CNMI may have less risk due to the reef and the deep ocean waters, but we’d rather be prepared in any event,” said HANMI chair Lynn A. Knight.

According to Knight, HANMI recently asked EMO what plans are currently in place for the Northern Marianas and what the sources of information are for tsunami warnings. They also asked for a set of recommendations in the event of future alerts.

EMO responded to HANMI by preparing a presentation for hotel general managers, which was initially given in January and is now being cascaded to the individual properties and hotel employees.

In the presentation to the hotel association’s general membership meeting on Jan. 13, EMO director Rudolfo M. Pua stressed the need for hotels to train employees and develop their own tsunami plans based on the characteristics of individual hotel facilities.

This is a good time for hotels to re-evaluate and establish safety procedures, said Pua. He stressed: “No matter how prepared the government is, if the public is ready, there will be less panic the next time there is a tsunami watch or warning.”

According to EMO, tsunami information comes from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii through a circuit called the Aeronautical Fixed telecommunication Network which, EMO said, is a worldwide system. Certain employees of the system carry alert devices 24 hours a day and then inform local officials.

In the CNMI, Pua said an emergency alert system has been set up such that the first primary radio station KCNM-KZMI which is on 1080 of the AM radio dial, receives and relays the bulletin to the rest of the radio stations.

To help warn beachfront hotels in the event of an alert, HANMI has recently set up an emergency telephone tree, which would allow EMO direct access to managers’ cell phone numbers if an emergency alert should occur.

HANMI is composed of 14 Saipan hotels with a total room capacity of over 2,600, and 12 affiliate members including the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and other private establishments.