The next time O'ahu faces a civil emergency, the city plans to get out information more quickly through direct links to broadcast media.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann yesterday announced plans to use the city's Traffic Management Center to communicate directly with radio and TV stations equipped to receive live updates straight from the center.

Individuals providing emergency alert information to the public could thereby view all the city's traffic cameras.

Hannemann said the city's first responders had information but had no way to immediately pass it on to O'ahu residents.

"Our major frustration and challenge was our inability to get out timely and accurate information, information that we had," he said.

Meanwhile, state adjutant general Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee said yesterday he wants civil defense to be able to interrupt TV and radio broadcasts with disaster alerts shortly after major earthquakes.

The messages would be similar to flood and storm watches Civil Defense airs during heavy rains, Lee said during a taping of the PBS Hawaii show "PBN Friday."

State Civil Defense did not send its first earthquake message until almost three hours after Sunday's 6.7-magnitude temblor.

Lee said part of the problem was that local broadcasters weren't staffed at the time of the early morning earthquakes and were broadcasting recorded programming.

"What we need to do on the notification side is a better way to ensure we can do the interruption," Lee said. "So when people are watching TV before the power goes out, we can have the trailer."

If there had been a threat of tsunami crashing into Hawai'i's shores Sunday, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center would have sounded local Civil Defense sirens, Lee said. The sirens have backup power so they would have gone off even in a blackout, he added.

INFORMATION GAP

Mike Kelly, vice president and general manager of Cox Radio Hawai'i, said the ability to receive information from city officials through a direct link — essentially a regular telephone line — would have improved matters during Sunday's islandwide power outage.

"It was very difficult to communicate via cell phone on Sunday, (so) the Traffic Management Center having a regular hard line to the stations certainly could have been an advantage," he said. "There's no such thing as too much information."

Residents across the state have complained that information was in short supply early Sunday when the earthquakes shook the state and left many residents without electricity.

"The radio stations were just flooded with phone calls from people wanting to know what's going on," Kelly said. "To be able to tell them, that's our job."

DIFFERENT PROBLEMS

Part of the communication problem was that state Civil Defense was concerned about earthquake response on the Big Island, while O'ahu residents were dealing with a power outage situation.

That's where Hannemann said that O'ahu Civil Defense could step in to keep people in the county informed.

"We want the media and the public to recognize that during emergencies, the city is where to come for the most accurate, current information for O'ahu," he said. "With virtually all the first-response and critical-service personnel under its jurisdiction, the city is in the best position to provide vital information to the public."

In addition to taking advantage of the Traffic Management Center's link to broadcast media outlets, Hannemann listed other strategies, such as shoring up Internet capabilities and possibly building an AM radio transmitter to use only in emergencies.

The mayor also said he would like the city to be able to directly access the Emergency Alert System, which would allow the city to pre-empt any radio and television programming with pre-recorded two-minute messages.

On Sunday, it took almost three hours after the first earthquake at 7:07 a.m. for any message to go out.

Glitches kept the city from being able to broadcast over the older Emergency Broadcast System, and a lack of training and state protocol prevented O'ahu Civil Defense from being able to use the newer Emergency Alert System, which requires the user to insert codes to broadcast a message.

STATE PRIORITY

Ed Teixeira, vice director of state Civil Defense, said that the city eventually asked the state to broadcast an EAS warning at 9:57 a.m. At that time, Teixeira said he was unaware that the city had not been able to get out a message on its own.

He said the city should be able to do so, and that broadcasting a message telling people to stay calm and indoors would have been appropriate.

In a news conference yesterday, Lee added that the state's first job after the earthquakes was to deploy search-and-rescue teams to survey damage on the Big Island. The task of sending out emergency communications falls to the city and counties.

Dan Dennison, news director at KHNL News 8, said that being able to have a direct line to the city via the Traffic Management Center would be helpful but not necessarily effective for TV news outlets that have lost power.

"I don't think it would have done us a lick of good under those circumstances," he said.

Dennison said he is looking forward to sitting down with a committee of government officials and media managers Gov. Linda Lingle has put together to come up with ways to improve emergency communications.

"For TV, it's a huge, expensive challenge," he said. "Clearly, I think we all have to figure out a way ... to get on the air and stay on the air."

Hannemann, who noted that the city had not been invited to participate on the committee, said he wanted to do something immediately, rather than wait 60 days for a report.

"Something could occur within those 60 days," he said. "We are prepared and ready now."

He stressed, however, that he wants to work cooperatively with the state rather than have the city work independently.

"We think we can be helpful to the state. I think, if we did this, as opposed to looking to compete with them to see who gets information out first," he said. "When it comes to public safety, it can't be compromised."

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.