Precautions for a tsunami

A surfboard through tree bcause of tusnami.

In general, if you think a tsunami may be coming, the ground shakes under your feet or you hear there is a warning, you should move quickly to higher ground.

If you are on land:

If you are at home and hear there is a tsunami warning, you should make sure your family is aware of the warning. Your family should evacuate your house if you live in an evacuation zone. Move to the evacuation site or to any safe place outside your evacuation zone. Follow the advice of local emergency and law enforcement.
If you are at the beach or near the ocean and you feel the ground shake, move immediately to higher ground, DO NOT wait for a warning to be announced. Stay away from rivers and streams that lead to the ocean as you would stay away from the beach and ocean. A regional tsunami from a local earthquake could strike some areas before a tsunami warning could be announced.
Tsunamis generated in distant locations will generally give people enough time to move to higher ground. For locally-generated tsunamis, where you might feel the ground shake, you may only have a few minutes to move to higher ground.

If you are on a boat:

Since tsunami wave activity is unperceptible do not return to port if you are at sea and a tsunami warning has been issued for your area. Tsunamis can cause huge changes in water level.

If there is time to move your boat or ship from port to deep water (after a tsunami warning has been issued), you should take the following considerations:

Most large harbors and ports are under the control of a harbor authority and/or a vessel traffic system. They direct operations during periods of increased readiness (should a tsunami be expected), including the forced movement of vessels if deemed necessary. Keep in contact with the authorities should a forced movement of vessel be directed.
Smaller ports may not be under the control of a harbor authority. If you are aware there is a tsunami warning and you have time to move your vessel to deep water, then you may want to do so in an orderly manner, in consideration of other vessels. Owners of small boats may find it safest to leave their boat at the pier and physically move to higher ground, particularly in the event of a locally-generated tsunami. Concurrent severe weather conditions (rough seas outside of safe harbor) could present a greater hazardous situation to small boats, so physically moving yourself to higher ground may be the only option. Overview of the Tsunami Warning System The Tsunami Warning System (TWS) in the Pacific, comprised of 26 participating international Member States, has the functions of monitoring seismological and tidal stations throughout the Pacific Basin to evaluate potentially tsunamigenic earthquakes and disseminating tsunami warning information. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) is the operational center of the Pacific TWS. Located near Honolulu, Hawaii, PTWC provides tsunami warning information to national authorities in the Pacific Basin. Tsunami Warning Centers As part of an international cooperative effort to save lives and protect property, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 's (NOAA) National Weather Service operates two tsunami warning centers. The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (ATWC) in Palmer, Alaska, serves as the regional Tsunami Warning Center for Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, serves as the regional Tsunami Warning Center for Hawaii and as a national/international warning center for tsunamis that pose a Pacific-wide threat. This international warning effort became a formal arrangement in 1965 when PTWC assumed the international warning responsibilities of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System (PTWS). The PTWS is composed of 26 international Member States that are organized as the International Coordination Group for the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific.

Tsunami Watch and Warning DeterminationThe objective of the PTWS is to detect, locate, and determine the magnitude of potentially tsunamigenic earthquakes occurring in the Pacific Basin or its immediate margins. Earthquake information is provided by seismic stations operated by PTWC, ATWC, the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center and international sources. If the location and magnitude of an earthquake meet the known criteria for generation of a tsunami, a tsunami warning is issued to warn of an imminent tsunami hazard. The warning includes predicted tsunami arrival times at selected coastal communities within the geographic area defined by the maximum distance the tsunami could travel in a few hours. A tsunami watch with additional predicted tsunami arrival times is issued for a geographic area defined by the distance the tsunami could travel in a subsequent time period.

If a significant tsunami is detected by sea-level mo nitoring instrumentation, the tsunami warning is extended to the entire Pacific Basin. Sea-level (or tidal) information is provided by NOAA's National Ocean Service, PTWC, ATWC, university monitoring networks and other participating nations of the PTWS. The International Tsunami Information Center, part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, monitors and evaluates the performance and effectiveness of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System. This effort encourages the most effective data collection, data analysis, tsunami impact assessment and warning dissemination to all TWS participants. Tsunami Warning Dispathching Tsunami watch, warning, and information bulletins are dispatched to appropriate emergency officials and the general public by a variety of communication methods.

Tsunami watch, warning and information bulletins issued by PTWC and ATWC are disseminated to local, state, national and international users as well as the media. These users, in turn, dispatch the tsunami information to the public, generally over commercial radio and television channels.
The NOAA Weather Radio System, based on a large number of VHF transmitter sites, provides direct broadcast of tsunami information to the public.
The US Coast Guard also broadcasts urgent marine warnings and related tsunami information to coastal users equipped with medium frequency (MF) and very high frequency (VHF) marine radios.
Local authorities and emergency managers are responsible for formulating and executing evacuation plans for areas under a tsunami warning. The public should stay-tuned to the local media for evacuation orders should a tsunami warning be issued. And, the public should NOT RETURN to low-lying areas until the tsunami threat has passed and the "all clear" is announced by the local authorities.

Information from: http://www.geo.mtu.edu/department/classes/ge404/tsunami/

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