MAKING OUR U.S. COASTAL COMMUNITIES "TSUNAMIREADY"

January 21, 2005 — The world’s interest in tsunami detection and warning systems was heightened since the tsunami struck South Asia on Dec. 26, 2004, yet very little attention has been focused on what coastal communities in tsunami prone areas can do to prepare and protect themselves from future tsunamis. It is critical that individuals in high-risk areas are educated about and prepared for tsunamis before they strike because ultimately it is up to each individual to take appropriate actions to protect him or herself (i.e., moving inland and to higher ground). All the warnings and information in the world will not do much if the public does not get, know how to use and/or act upon it. The goal of the NOAA TsunamiReady Program is to do just that — not to alarm, but to educate and remind the public about tsunami safety precautions.

The NOAA TsunamiReady program has fulfilled the two key requirements of any useful readiness/preparedness effort: awareness and mitigation. It has promoted tsunami awareness by educating key decision makers, emergency managers and the public about the nature (physical processes) and threat (frequency of occurrence, impact) of tsunamis. Tsunami mitigation involves taking steps before a tsunami strikes to lessen the impact (loss of life and property) of that event when it does occur. As with earthquakes, there is no question tsunamis will occur — it's just a matter of when, where and how bad it will be. As a result, the TsunamiReady program has encouraged the drafting and implementation of a well-designed tsunami emergency response plan for each of its communities.

To date, there are 15 TsunamiReady communities in Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California. Since the NOAA TsunamiReady Program was initiated in 2001, local authorities in these states have drawn up tsunami emergency plans, installed sirens and other warning systems to alert people of an approaching tsunami, installed tsunami evacuation route signs and tsunami information signs along the coast and at many state parks, implemented innovative tsunami hazard educational pilot programs and practiced tsunami evacuation drills.

“The success of the NOAA TsunamiReady Program should serve as a model for local level tsunami mitigation and awareness in other parts of the nation and the world,” said Stephan Kuhl, warning coordination meteorologist for NOAA National Weather Service headquarters in Washington, D.C. “Although it is almost impossible to accurately predict when and where earthquakes will occur, it is possible to determine if a tsunami is generated and help people learn how best to protect themselves and their families from harm.”

Unique Challenges Posed by Tsunamis
Tsunamis are quite rare compared to other hazardous natural events, but they can be just as deadly and destructive. As a result, tsunami hazard planning along the U.S. and Canadian west coasts, Alaska and within the Pacific Region is inconsistent and, in many cases, insufficient. Even in locations with a history of deadly tsunamis, an adequate level of awareness and preparedness is difficult to achieve and sustain over time. Tsunamis also pose several other unique and difficult challenges:

• Many of the tsunami at-risk areas have low population densities, making it difficult to compete with more populated areas for scarce mitigation resources.
• Locally generated tsunamis are typically accompanied by a significant earthquake. Communities in the epicentral region of a major tsunami-generating earthquake must deal with significant earthquake-related impacts, in addition to tsunami flooding and damage — making both dissemination of warning information and coordinated official evacuation much more challenging.
• Local tsunami mitigation must rely strongly on education since it is critical that all people in high-risk coastal communities immediately recognize that an earthquake itself should serve as a local tsunami warning to move inland and to higher ground. The NOAA tsunami warning centers, on the other hand, would provide advanced warning for distant tsunamis originating from across the ocean. The diverse population of coastal regions further complicates this problem. Information about the tsunami risk and appropriate response needs to be communicated to residents, workers (seasonal and year-round), regional visitors and transient populations, all of whom have different exposures to the tsunami hazard.
• Despite numerous research efforts, tsunamis and their effects remain largely uncertain, unpredictable and vary from location to location (depending on the local geography and man-made infrastructure). Tsunamis can occur at any time of the day, are not seasonal and do not occur regularly or frequently.

The TsunamiReady program was created to help meet the needs of communities that are at risk of tsunamis.

NOAA’s National Tsunami Efforts
On a national level, NOAA Research (i.e., the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory) and the NOAA National Weather Service (which runs the U.S. Tsunami Program, including
the operation of warning centers in Hawaii and Alaska, and oversees the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program) have designed, developed and implemented a Pacific Ocean-based tsunami monitoring and warning system that can pinpoint where and when a tsunami might strike the coast from distant sources. These warnings are relayed to coastal communities throughout Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska and Hawaii. But what do coastal communities do once they receive a tsunami warning from NOAA or experience an earthquake (or other tsunami trigger) in a high risk coastal area. This is where the NOAA TsunamiReady Program comes in.

The NOAA TsunamiReady Program Helps at the Local Level
TsunamiReady is a voluntary preparedness program that promotes tsunami hazard readiness as an active collaboration among federal, state and local emergency management agencies, the public and the NOAA National Weather Service tsunami warning system. This collaboration supports better and more consistent tsunami awareness and mitigation efforts among communities at risk. The main goal is to improve public safety during tsunami emergencies so that when a tsunami warning is issued, the public gets the warning, knows what to do about it and takes action. To meet this goal, the following objectives must be met:

• Create minimum standard guidelines for a community to follow for adequate tsunami readiness
• Encourage consistency in educational materials and response among communities and states
• Recognize communities that have adopted TsunamiReady guidelines
• Increase public awareness and understanding of the tsunami hazard
• Improve community pre-planning for tsunami disasters

TsunamiReady Community Guidelines
TsunamiReady establishes minimum guidelines for a community to be awarded the TsunamiReady recognition. TsunamiReady communities adopt requirements in the areas of communications, warning reception and dissemination, public outreach, awareness and administrative planning. Specific TsunamiReady guidelines are listed below:

• Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center
• Have more than one way to receive tsunami and severe weather warnings and forecasts and to alert the public (e.g., Emergency Management Weather Information Network receiver, NOAA Weather Radio and/or NOAA Weather Wire drop)
• Create a system that monitors weather conditions locally
• Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars
• Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.

Benefits of Your Community Becoming Storm and TsunamiReady
The TsunamiReady program encourages communities to take a proactive approach to improving local tsunami awareness and mitigation activities. The program is a “win” situation for everyone involved: community leaders, the NOAA Weather Service, emergency managers and the general public.

How can you become a TsunamiReady Community?
To become TsunamiReady, communities in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska should contact the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska. Communities in Hawaii should contact the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawai. You can also contact your local NOAA National Weather Service Forecast Office.

The threat of a tsunami striking the United States (and other countries) is real and should be taken seriously — it has happened in the past and will happen again. In fact, over the past 200 years, a total of 24 tsunamis have caused damage to the United States and its territories.

Although a lot has already been done to prepare coastal communities for tsunamis, there is still much more to do. The TsunamiReady program started in the Pacific because this area has the highest number of subduction zones (known as the “ring of fire”), which produce the most powerful earthquakes and tsunamis. However, tsunamis also have been generated in other bodies of water, including the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas and the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Knowing this, NOAA is already planning to expand its TsunamiReady Program (as well as its Tsunami monitoring and warning systems) to many of these areas so it can continue to educate, inform and advise coastal communities about the threat of tsunamis.

"To date, NOAA has successfully established 15 TsunamiReady communities but hopes to establish hundreds or even thousands more all along our coasts in the near future," said retired Air Force Brig. General David L. Johnson, director of the NOAA National Weather Service. "No community is tsunami proof, but TsunamiReady communities are better prepared to save lives because of their advanced planning, educational and awareness efforts."

Relevant Web Sites
U.S. ANNOUNCES PLAN FOR AN IMPROVED TSUNAMI DETECTION AND WARNING SYSTEM

NOAA SCIENTISTS ABLE TO MEASURE TSUNAMI HEIGHT FROM SPACE

NOAA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI

NOAA REACTS QUICKLY TO INDONESIAN TSUNAMI

NOAA TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM RECEIVES HIGH MARKS

Frequently Asked Questions about TsunamiReady (West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center site)

Frequently Asked Questions about TsunamiReady (Pacific Tsunami Warning Center site)

TsunamiReady Administration

TsunamiReady Document: the Readiness Challenge

Storm/TsunamiReady Application Form

Media Contact:
Greg Romano, NOAA Weather Service, (301) 713-0622 ext. 164 or Delores Clark, NOAA Weather Service, (808) 532-6411