Honolulu is progressing toward closing communication gaps among emergency first responders, according to a Department of Homeland Security scorecard.

The national study of metropolitan areas looked at policies, technology and training in place that will enable law enforcement and fire and emergency medical services to communicate with each other within one hour of a major disaster.

The Oct. 15 earthquakes and blackout here exposed communication gaps as state and O'ahu civil defense officials received many complaints after residents statewide had to wait 49 minutes before they had official word that the 6.7 and 6.5 magnitude earthquakes off the Big Island's Kona Coast had not generated a tsunami.

The Governor's Comprehensive Communications Review Committee called it a "wake-up call" to improve the current communication system.

The Homeland Security scorecard assessment put Honolulu at an "intermediate implementation" stage for governance (leadership and strategic planning) and standard operating procedure. Honolulu rated a higher assessment of "established implementation" for use of equipment.

The two assessments are sandwiched between "early implementation" and "advanced implementation."

The Homeland Security survey is an assessment of how well 75 U.S. communities have prepared their first responders to communicate during a catastrophe. More than five years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, exposed severe weaknesses in the ability of emergency workers to communicate with each other, the report gave only six of the areas studied the highest grades.

The report found that while emergency agencies in more than 60 percent of the communities studied had the ability to talk to each other during a crisis, only 21 percent overall showed "the seamless use" of equipment needed to also communicate with state and federal officials.

The report's highest ratings went to the Washington, D.C., area; San Diego; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Columbus, Ohio; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Laramie County, Wyo.

The lowest scores went to Chicago; Cleveland; Baton Rouge, La.; Mandan, N.D.; and American Samoa. The report includes large and small cities and their suburbs, along with U.S. territories.

The nation's homeland security chief pledged yesterday that U.S. cities would have advanced disaster communications systems by 2009 but acknowledged that friction among emergency agencies continues to hinder progress.

"We are determined to get this job done in the next two years," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

Chertoff did not say how much the effort would cost, but so far the government has distributed more than $2.9 billion to communities around the country with mixed results.