The latest information from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center is that a damaging tsunami is NOT expected for Hawaiʻi, following a 1 p.m. (Wednesday, Sept. 16) earthquake off of Chile.
However, a cautionary ADVISORY remains posted, because Tsunami waves reaching 0.3 to 1 meters above the tide level are possible along Hawaiʻi coastlines.
The Kakaʻako Campus of the John A. Burns School of Medicine and the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center are not in, but are very close to, the official tsunami zone.
A Tsunami Advisory is issued when the threat of a tsunami may produce strong currents or waves dangerous to those in or near the water. Officials do NOT expect to have to evacuate island residents, but they are urging that swimmers and others stay out of the ocean from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17.
Do I come to work Thursday?
We will continue to advise Kakaʻako employees on this website http://jabsom.hawaii.edu/news-media/uh-med-now/, and on social media including @uhmed (www.twitter.com/uhmed) and Facebook www.facebook.com/
It is strongly advised that employees do NOT come to the Kakaʻako campus until cleared to do so by a message from JABSOM Communications (including Cancer Center employees). If our website is “down” anytime overnight, we will reach out to you via email and on social media, and we ask that you assume you should not come in if the website is in fact off-line.
What to do at work
Before leaving your offices and work sites today, we ask that you turn off and unplug all office equipment including computers, printers, copiers and devices such as coffee makers, etc.
Researchers are asked to power down and unplug ALL of their sensitive equipment.
Gold Bond Building Worksite
UH employees who work in the Gold Bond Building should also stand by for more information about whether their worksite will be open Thursday.
What to do at home: Do you live in a Tsunami evacuation zone?
Find the Tsunami Evacuation Zones and preparedness information at the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency:
http://www.scd.hawaii.gov/
The evacuation zone is a guideline and should be considered the minimum safe evacuation distance.
If you must evacuate (not expected in this event)
Authorities may require you to leave your home or workplace, or block access to your neighborhood. If that happens, please cooperate. Find information about emergency shelter locations at:
http://www.honolulu.gov/rep/
Planning for emergencies
We suggest you sign up for cellphone TEXT ALERTS from the University of Hawaiʻi Alert Emergency Notifications service. It provides information that impacts the health and safety of the UH community or closures of whole campuses. Click below to login and sign up.
For Tsunami information, you can also follow the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center for the latest updates:
http://ptwc.weather.gov/?