Coastal Alaska communities live with the most serious tsunami risk in the United States. Thanks to fruitful partnerships with the City of Cordova, Metlakatla Indian Community, the City and Borough of Yakutat, and the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, we’ve published three new “Know Your Tsunami Hazard” brochures in 2025!
The first step in developing tsunami preparedness products for each community is mapping the tsunami hazard. To achieve this, our tsunami scientists Elena Troshina and Dmitry Nicolsky collaborate with the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) to evaluate and map potential flooding. The maps reflect the best tsunami science available at the time of publication.
Based on that inundation report information, the next step for creating the brochures is to coordinate with emergency managers in each community to generate the evacuation line, determine assembly areas, decide which notable community landmarks to include, and write safety instructions to follow. The Earthquake Center collaborates with our partners at the UAF Geographic Information Network of Alaska to create the map of tsunami hazards, including estimated flooding, potential underwater landslide zones, locations with long pedestrian evacuation times, and dangerous currents in harbors and waterways.
The text of the brochure includes safety information, insight into historical tsunamis in the community, and local emergency information and planning sources and contacts. GIS data files for each community-generated evacuation line are available on our website, so that communities can produce other informational and preparedness materials as needed, or incorporate the evacuation line into broader emergency planning documents.
Each community has its own challenges and safety concerns, and we appreciate the time and effort our partners devoted to making these new tsunami safety brochures a valuable resource for the people who live, work, and play there.
