Coastal Communities

Roll Out Tailored Tsunami

Evacuation Plans

 

If a tsunami were to threaten the San Diego coast, San Diego’s 10 coastal cities and U.S. Naval installations could refer to new tsunami response “playbooks” that include tailored, phased evacuation and mitigation plans for each area.

“Advanced modeling gives us the ability to more accurately predict who may be impacted by an approaching tsunami,” said Holly Crawford, director of the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services (OES). “The playbooks are actionable plans that will reduce the potential for an over-evacuation of communities, which can lead to additional hazards.”

Each community has worked with the County OES and the state to develop evacuation plans based on their topography, inundation zones and populations along the coast.

County OES Senior Emergency Services Coordinator Mike Davis said San Diego is one of five counties chosen to create the tailored playbooks as part of a state pilot program.

Prior to the new playbooks, the tsunami plan was a single, one-size-fits-all response for communities--from those with steep cliffs and no population to those with docked boats, homes or businesses along the water. In San Diego County, emergency managers had one of two choices: clear the beaches only or evacuate the whole region’s tsunami evacuation zone, with its approximately 33,000 homes and businesses.

“These playbooks will allow us to perform more focused evacuations based on the unique characteristics of the impacted areas and more accurate information about the expected tsunami,” said Davis.

Last year, OES mailed tsunami flood surge maps and evacuation routes to the homes and businesses in the tsunami flood surge zone of each of the ten communities.

The new maps and information will help the public plan. If you don’t receive a tsunami mailer, you most likely do not live or work in a potential tsunami flood area. But spring is here and the shore calls. The new city-specific maps are linked below, and everything you and your family needs to prepare for tsunamis and other disasters is at ReadySanDiego.org.