Tsunami safety on the coast

Tsunamis don't happen often, and most are small, but they can strike any ocean coast at any time, in any season. A tsunami can arrive within minutes of a nearby earthquake, and the dangerous flooding and currents can go on for hours or days. The first wave may not be the last or the largest.

Know your risk

• Find out whether your home is in a tsunami hazard or evacuation zoneCheck your school, workplace and other places you go often too. Your local emergency management office or National Weather Service office can tell you.
• Find out whether your community has had tsunamis before
• Find the evacuation routes and assembly areasThey may be on a tsunami hazard or evacuation zone map. If not, ask your local emergency management office.

Plan your way out

• Pick a safe place on high ground or inlandIt should be outside the hazard zone. You may need more than one, depending on where you are when a warning comes.
• Plan to get there on footRoads may be damaged, closed or jammed.
• Walk the route, including at night and in bad weatherKnowing the way makes a real evacuation quicker.
• Ask about vertical evacuation if your safe place is too farSome tall, strong buildings, such as reinforced concrete ones, may give protection when there's no other option.
• Learn the school's planFind out where the children's school would take them and where to pick them up afterward.
• Ask about local tsunami safety when visiting the coastA hotel or campground may have warning and evacuation information.

Know the warnings

• Know the natural warningsWatch for a strong or long earthquake, or a loud roar like a train or an airplane from the ocean. The ocean may rise like a fast flood or a wall of water, or drain away to show the sea floor. Any one of them is enough to go.
• Know where official warnings come fromThey come over local radio and TV, wireless emergency alerts on your phone, NOAA Weather Radio, Tsunami.gov, and outdoor sirens or local officials.
• Make sure your phone gets emergency alertsSign up for email and text alerts from your local emergency management office too.

When it happens

• After an earthquake, drop, cover and hold onThen, as soon as it's safe to move, head for your safe place. Don't wait for an official warning.
• On the beach, move off it as soon as you feel shakingHowever big or long the earthquake, head for high ground or inland.
• With an official warning, follow the planStay out of the water and away from beaches and waterways, and go to your safe place unless officials say otherwise. If you can't reach it, follow evacuation signs or go as high or as far inland as you can.
• Outside the hazard zone, stay putLeave only if local officials tell you to.
• Keep phone calls shortLeave the lines free for emergencies.

Afterward

• Stay out of the hazard zone until officials say it's safeA canceled warning doesn't mean the danger has passed. It can be days before it's safe to go back.
• Stay out of damaged buildingsStay out of buildings with water around them too, until a professional or official says it's safe.
• Avoid fallen power lines and broken utility linesReport any you see.