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Tacoma, WA - // Monday, February 6, 2006 < Back to Regular Story Page

Tsunami warning issued for Alaska by mistake

Associated Press
Last updated: February 6th, 2006 12:28 PM (PST)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska ? A false tsunami warning was 
automatically sent to television and radio 
stations throughout Alaska Monday morning, the 
National Weather Service said. The agency said it 
was not clear how the mistaken warning got out.

?It went out by mistake. There is no danger of 
tsunami anywhere,? said K.B Bennekamper, a 
meteorologist in the agency?s Anchorage forecast office.

The message, which went directly from the weather 
service to Alaska broadcasters, contained only a 
tsunami warning header. A real emergency message 
would have had text outlining which areas of the 
state were covered, Bennekamper said.

The Weather Service later sent a correction.

Bennekamper said the weather service received 
phone calls from stations from Fairbanks to 
Juneau when the tsunami warning was not followed by any further information.

?Every phone in the place started ringing,? said 
Ed Bennett, assignment editor for KTUU television 
in Anchorage. ?We had between 30 to 50 phones 
calls in the newsroom and an equal number at the 
front office in a 15-minute period.?

It was not immediately clear how the automatic 
warning was issued, except technicians were 
working on a computer and showing a new intern how warnings are issued.

?He says no one sent anything, you couldn?t set 
it off without going through three of four steps. 
It might have been glitch in the machine,? 
Bennekamper said. ?We?re still trying to figure out why it went out.?

On the Net: National Weather Service, Anchorage: 
<http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/>http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/

Originally published: February 6th, 2006 12:28 PM (PST)
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