Around 10:50 Thursday morning, a choir of emergency alerts sounded out around the Bay Area, including in the KALW newsroom. Reporter Jann Ramirez wanted to find out why so many people in downtown San Francisco stayed put despite getting a warning about a possible tsunami.
The alert said to check with local officials for more guidance, but it wasn’t that easy to find information. In San Francisco the city suggested only those within a block of the coast needed to change their location. I stood outside in the financial district asking people what they would do if there was a tsunami.
Amanda Brooms, a woman stuck in traffic with her window rolled down, saw me with a mic and yelled out.
“You're supposed to find higher ground, I think.”
She didn’t seem worried. Darryl Holman, a man crossing the street, wondered if the alert would really be enough for people to get to safety.
“I was like, wow, a tsunami. What are we supposed to do at this time? What to do but nothing, but wait till the water comes, right?”
It can be hard to know what to do in an emergency but following protocols can help. In the initial warning, the National Weather Service told people to be observant and cautious near the sea. Officials at all levels have stressed that yesterday’s alert was not a false alarm. There was a significant concern at first.
A younger gentleman, Isaiah Cryer, was eager to share his thoughts:
“I just had to see if it was true…I've been out here all my life. I ain't never seen no tsunami. So I couldn't believe it at all.”
You can learn more about how Bay Area officials responded to the warning at kalw.org
