Full Notification

Tsunami Awareness Week

The City of Sausalito’s Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Operations Program would like to remind community members that California’s 2017 Tsunami Awareness week is March 27th through 31st. During California’s Tsunami Preparedness Week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and emergency managers promote tsunami safety and awareness and urge coastal residents and visitors to prepare themselves and their families for a tsunami. Everyone everywhere should know how to be prepared for tsunamis and what to do to be safe. This is true for people who live or work near the ocean, and also for anyone who may visit someday. For more information visit www.TsunamiZone.org/california which provides suggestions and resources for your family or organization to “know your zone” and to learn how to be safe. Be counted among people and organizations worldwide by registering your 2017 tsunami preparedness activities!

Facts regarding tsunamis:
• A tsunami is a series of waves or surges most commonly caused by an earthquake beneath the sea floor.
• An unusual lowering of ocean water, exposing the sea floor is a warning of a tsunami or other large wave. This “draw back” means the water will surge back strongly.
• Beaches, lagoons, bays, estuaries, tidal flats and river mouths are the most dangerous places to be. It is rare for a tsunami to penetrate more than a mile inland.
• Tsunami waves are unlike normal coastal waves. Tsunamis are more like a river in flood or a sloping mountain of water and filled with debris.
• Tsunamis cannot be surfed. They have no face for a surfboard to dig into and are usually filled with debris.
• Large tsunamis may reach heights of twenty to fifty feet along the coast and even higher in a few locales. The first tsunami surge is not the highest and the largest surge may occur hours after the first wave. It is not possible to predict how many surges or how much time will elapse between waves be for a particular tsunami.
• The entire California Coast is vulnerable to tsunamis. The Crescent City Harbor on California’s North Coast suffered significant tsunami damage as recently as 2006. A dozen people were killed in California following the 1964 Alaska earthquake.

For more information on tsunamis and how to get prepared, visit the California Office of Emergency Service’s website www.caloes.ca.gov/ and the City of Sausalito’s Emergency Preparedness website http://www.ci.sausalito.ca.us/index.aspx?page=667.