The North County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and county emergency services are preparing for Tsunami Preparedness Week, beginning March 22.
The County Office of Emergency Services will be running an educational social media campaign educating the public about tsunamis on topics including tsunami alert levels, hazard threat to our coast line, and what you should do if there is a tsunami. The Tsunami Annex to the Emergency Operations Plan is currently working on their pre-plans, and updates to the county's "TsunamiReady Community" which can be found here.
While tsunami advisories are rare for the Central Coast according to local experts, it always comes in handy to know the signs.
“Tsunami's are very rare," Cal Poly Environmental Engineering Professor Rob Moss said. "What we do have every year is the winter storm cycle. Those waves are significant. [The Cal Poly Pier] was taken out by winter storm surge and big waves.”
CERT Training Coordinator John Spooner is working to get the community prepared for any type of tsunami event through upcoming trainings. Information on tsunami’s can be found on their website here. Spooner says he's also hoping to conduct tsunami walk drills in Morro Bay and Cayucos.
According to Moss, common tsunami warning signs are a sudden rise of ocean water, a sudden retreat of ocean water, or a rumbling beneath your feet signaling an earthquake.
“Just west of Monterey, there's a trench that goes down to about 8,000 feet," Spooner added. "And there are some concerns that part of the ledge of one of the sides of that trench might slip down into that, and that would be enough to cause displacement of water and a tsunami.”
If there is a tsunami threat, Moss says there are sensors in the ocean that pick up a pressure signal. Anything that disturbs the water such as an earthquake, a landslide, or a volcanic eruption can cause a tsunami. Nearby trainings held in California can be found here. They’ll teach you how to look for high ground, how to spot a tsunami, and how to prepare a “to go” bag.
“If it's a local cause tsunami, usually there's an alert and you have 15 minutes, and the local emergency responders [will] broadcast [the tsunami] and there'll be sirens," Moss said.
