Officials from the NOAA National Weather Service were in Honolulu to praise Hawai`i’s civil defense team for completing a set of rigorous warning and evacuation criteria necessary to earn the distinction of the entire state being TsunamiReady and StormReady. “It is with great pride that we announce Hawai`i as the first TsunamiReady state in America,” said U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye. “Hawai`i has experienced more tsunami threats than any other state in the union and we know how devastating they can be. As we near the one-year anniversary of the greatest tsunami of our lifetime, our hearts go out to those Indian Ocean countries who are still recovering. In Hawai`i, we have taken steps to be better prepared for the next tsunami. We have an emergency operations center in every county, a statewide siren system, evacuation maps in the phone books, regular drills and public education programs. These provisions and others helped the State of Hawai`i become TsunamiReady and StormReady.”