How do survive a tsunami?

Answer 1

Surviving a tsunami

With major tsunamis happening every few years, it's a topic that is important to consider if you live near a high-risk area.

There are steps to take to ready yourself and your home. For instance, reinforcing your home could help diminish damage, as some have found in Japan's recent earthquake-tsunami.

But when the tsunami is imminent, you've got very little time to get control and get out. Here are some things to do:

• When you hear the siren or warning, do not stall. Many in Japan had 15 or 30 minutes to evacuate to higher ground, and it's what saved so many.
• The most important thing: get to higher ground and as inland as you possibly can. Depending on the force of the wave and the land mass, it can go in pretty deep. The wave's power will diminish the further inland it gets, so every meter counts.

Tsunamis kill people near sea level, near the coast. They don't kill people living up on the hill, or far inland, or out at sea. If you're on the beach and feel an earthquake, go immediately to the nearest hill. If you don't feel an earthquake, but the sea begins to go down suddenly or to boil, go immediately to the nearest hill.