Tips and info from the Pacific Disaster Center
On April 1, 1946, a large undersea earthquake near the Aleutian Islands generated a tsunami that traveled nearly 3,000 miles across the Pacific to become Hawaii’s most deadly natural disaster ever. Since then, international and national organizations such as the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, and others have made tremendous advances in tsunami detection, monitoring, and warning.
At the same time, organizations such the Pacific Disaster Center have contributed to tsunami safety by developing and enhancing preparedness methods, contributing to the collaborative work of local, national, regional and global organizations that help to reduce tsunami disaster risks.
Like many areas along coasts in the U.S. and abroad, the State of Hawaii conducts annual, statewide tsunami-response exercises to ensure that all civil defense, military, and first responder units, as well as Pacific Disaster Center and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center are ready to react as needed.
However, the Pacific Disaster Center warns, safety of your family still depends on what you and your family members know and what you do when threatened by a tsunami.
Pacific Disaster Center provides general information about tsunamis plus important information about preparedness and how to put together your own emergency supply kit. There are tsunami evacuation maps in phone books distributed in the islands as well as online.
For additional, related information, refer to:
Pacific Disaster Center’s index of information on tsunami
Static maps of tsunami inundation zones and the interactive maps