Coastal Alaska communities live with the most serious tsunami risk in the United States. Historically, tsunamis generated by earthquakes in Alaska have caused damage and loss of life along the West Coast and across the Pacific. Here in Alaska, though, tsunamis generated by nearby earthquakes represent “near-field” hazards. This means people may have minutes rather than hours to reach safety.

Since 1998 the Alaska Earthquake Center has partnered with the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to make our coastal communities safer by providing state and local officials with the best possible information for addressing the tsunami hazards faced by their communities.

We tackle community safety through the following products:

Inundation Mapping Project
Maritime Response Maps
Pedestrian Travel Time Maps
Permanent Flooding Maps
Community Brochures
Tsunami Hazard Map Tool

Much of this work was funded by various awards as a National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) grant to the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management from the Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.