Port Alberni chooses didgeridoo for tsunami warning system

Port Alberni has chosen a new sound for its tsunami warning system – a didgeridoo.

Mayor Mike Ruttan said a group of students chose the new sound as some residents had become too accustomed to the old one. “In their research they found that people, after all these decades, were actually ignoring the tone that came out on the tsunami warning system and they felt if they changed it maybe people would listen a little more carefully,” said Ruttan.

He added the intention of the new sound is to get peoples’ attention and not to cause panic.

“People like the change,” he said, “and it’s definitely something that does its job, which is to get peoples’ attention.”

The sound is played in Port Alberni about once a month as a test.