The end of March marks Tsunami Preparedness Week, a good opportunity for you to learn about your location in relation to local tsunami inundation zones and prepare for a potential tsunami. 

Humboldt County has its numerous seismic faults to thank for its dramatic coastline. While a beautiful landscape, Humboldt gets regular earthquake reminders that a major event is only a matter of time. Earthquakes might just be part of the problem. A catastrophic offshore earthquake can readily generate tsunami waves along low-lying areas. 

Next week, the Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) will be joining communities throughout the state in participating in California Tsunami Preparedness Week, March 23 through 31, by conducting tsunami evacuation drills.

Half of the department’s workers in Eureka occupy offices within tsunami inundation zones. In an effort to prepare and promote the best routes to higher ground beyond the tsunami inundation zones, DHHS employees will hold evacuation drills over a series of days.

An understandable response to a major earthquake that results in a near-source tsunami warning could be to get into a vehicle and drive away. However, it’s anticipated that roadways will be full of cars so an attempt to drive might prove fatal. Instead, DHHS employees will participate in walking evacuation drills, crossing Broadway and Fourth and Fifth streets to pre-designated rallying locations. 

Do you have questions about your workplace, home, child’s school or recreational areas and how they could be impacted? Prominent blue tsunami evacuation route signs throughout coastal regions announce those danger areas. Additionally, the Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group has posted updated Tsunami Hazard Maps which were recently completed by the California Geological Survey. Check them out here: https://rctwg.humboldt.edu/tsunami-hazard-maps.

To learn more about California’s 2024 Tsunami Preparedness Week, visit https://www.tsunamizone.org/california/.

Staff from DHHS’s Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Program took part in a recent tsunami evacuation drill. From left, Mai Xiong, Amber Moses, Patricia Modine and Annie Dunn. 

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