SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE TSUNAMI ZONE AND BEYOND
If you live on the Pacific coast, you are likely to be in the tsunami zone. If you don’t, remember that earthquake survivors who make it out of the tsunami zone won’t have water, food, or shelter. They will need help from others to survive.
Experts advise that when the shaking stops, those who are in or near the tsunami zone should evacuate the area immediately and head for higher ground. Don’t wait for warning sirens. Don’t stop to text your loved ones. Don’t delay in order to gather belongings or check on others. Get to safety as fast as you can.
Store emergency supplies in an accessible location outside of the tsunami zone. Even if your home is beyond range of the expected water surge, the soils on the coast mean that landslide and liquefaction risks are higher where you live, so don’t assume your home is a good place to store your supplies.
The coastal tsunami zone is impacted by topography both offshore and on land. Many people have the notion that a giant wave will wash over the coast and into Portland or Seattle, so calling it the “coastal” tsunami zone clarifies the area of significant impact. Even in Puget Sound the rise in water is expected to be relatively small—not at all the way people think about “tsunami” waves. Both Oregon and Washington have “mapped” how far they expect the tsunami to go. Find links to tsunami zone maps in the resources chapter at the back of this book, but check your local emergency management agency website for maps with potentially more detail.
Check with your local emergency management agency to find out about current efforts to increase your community’s preparedness, establish supply storage sites outside the tsunami zone, and train residents in critical emergency skills. Given the complex challenges on the coast, collective readiness in the tsunami zone will save lives and prevent suffering more effectively than individual or household preparedness can.
If your community has not yet tackled the issues of living in a tsunami zone, you’ll have to sort out your best options for storing your emergency supplies. If your home is not suitable, consider whether a friend’s house, a storage facility, a closet-sized rental space in a commercial building, or an outdoor shed might work for storing your supplies. Hide a duplicate key near the storage site, since you may not have your keys with you when the earthquake comes.
For coastal residents and visitors, it is crucial to get in the habit of being aware of where you are and where you would need to travel to in order to be safe in the case of an earthquake. Knowing the quickest, easiest, and most accessible path between those two points is essential. In Oregon, painted notifications on coastal town roadways indicate where tsunami-safe zones are, making it somewhat easier to orient for evacuation.
We often think of a tsunami as one terrifying wave that rushes in after an earthquake. But just as the main shock in an earthquake is simply the beginning of a series of many aftershocks, the first tsunami wave is often the first in a “train” of waves, with crests hitting five minutes to an hour apart and the series of waves lasting for hours or days. The first wave is not always the biggest. Staying safe after a tsunami means staying outside of the tsunami zone until officials declare it is safe to move back to lower ground.
People in the severe shake zone (see this page) aren’t the only ones who need to be two-weeks-ready. A full-rip 9.0 Cascadia earthquake will be the largest natural disaster the United States has experienced. Everyone in Washington, Oregon, Northern California, British Columbia, and Alaska will suffer from disruptions in deliveries of necessities. Even people living a thousand miles away from the epicenter may confront unexpected shortages or delays in receiving supplies. Residents of central and eastern Oregon and Washington will be particularly vulnerable to finding empty store shelves as responders prioritize pushing critical supplies west to earthquake survivors.
While most infrastructure outside the severe shake zone will be functioning, sporadic power outages and severe fuel shortages are likely in some areas. Water and sewer systems should be intact, and dwellings may have little or no damage. Food, fuel, medicine, and other necessities may be difficult or impossible to get. Consider your likely situation when prioritizing preparation outside of the severe shake zone.
While shortages will be noticeable, some areas will also be challenged by an immediate surge in equipment, personnel, and relief supplies waiting to deploy to the impact zone. The massive response effort the earthquake triggers will reshape some communities almost overnight. Check with your local emergency management office to see if you live near a response staging area. If you do, ask them what opportunities and challenges you should expect during the initial response.
□ Know evacuation routes from places you frequent—home, work, school, etc.
□ Store supplies outside of the tsunami zone
□ Understand the tsunami wave sequence
□ Assess likely needs after a Cascadia earthquake
□ Find out if you live near a response staging area