Communities in western Washington like Edmonds, Everett and Bellingham are no longer considered out of reach of damaging tsunami waves.
In Edmonds, the Washington Emergency Management Division erected its newest tsunami siren Thursday, also known as an All Alert Hazards Broadcast tower or "AHAB."
The legislature approved $2.7 million along with $150,000 in federal money to complete a network of 122 towers that can warn people a tsunami is on the way. If that tsunami originates from a long distance away, say from Alaska, that warning can come hours before the anticipated arrival of tsunami waves.
But tsunamis can also be generated locally.
Scientists said the biggest threat is from the Cascadia subduction zone, a fault off the Washington Coast capable of generating some of the largest tsunami’s in the world, similar to the tsunamis that hit northeastern Japan in 2011.