When we were on our recent trip to Washington state (or as I used to call it, “the Pacific Northwet,”) I noticed all the “tsunami escape route” signs, which are similar to the ones we’ve seen on trips to Hawaii. I wondered then what a devastating wave might do to some of the coastal communities we were in, and it seemed like they were pretty well up on the tidal wave preparedness angle.

After yesterdays’ 7.0 undersea quake, which was supposed to automatically trigger a general evacuation once it was confirmed, it turns out that for many Pacific coast communities, tsunami preparedness was not so good:

The Seattle Times: Local News: Tsunami alert serves as drill for beach towns

There was apparently a lot of confusion. Most towns in Washington don’t have sirens, though much of Oregon does (some salvaged from the Trojan newkiller plant). A lot of emergency services people wanted to wait to evacuate until a wave was actually confirmed, not assume the worst and get everybody up the hill based on the magnitude of the tremor. And of course, there were crotchety older types who refused to haul ass with a bunch of idiots that didn’t know their asses from their elbows.

So all in all, it was a pretty good drill, because there was no wave, but plenty of backwash.

Remember, the world needs more lerts.