Puerto Rico Installing Tsunami Sirens in Capital

Puerto Rico is setting up a tsunami alert system in densely populated San Juan.

San Juan Mayor Jorge Santini says experts warn that the island faces a very real threat from a tsunami though the last one occurred in 1918. Santini says the network of sirens and a public education campaign are critical in case of an evacuation. San Juan received about $800,000 from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security to set up the alert system.

Puerto Rico is in a seismically active zone. The island’s official seismic tracking center says one of the most powerful earthquakes in Puerto Rico history triggered the 1918 tsunami on the west coast. About 40 people were killed.