If you are in an area at risk from tsunamis
- You should find out if your home, school, workplace, or other frequently visited locations are in tsunami hazard areas along sea-shore.
- Know the height of your street above sea level and the distance of your street from the coast or other high-risk waters. (Local administration may put signboards).
- Plan evacuation routes from your home, school, workplace, or any other place you could be where tsunamis present a risk.
- If your children’s school is in an identified inundation zone, find out what the school evacuation plan is.
- Practice your evacuation routes.
- Use a Weather Radio or stay tuned to a local radio or television station to keep informed of local watches and warnings.
- Talk to your insurance agent. Homeowner’s policies may not cover flooding from tsunami. Ask the insurance Agent about the benefits from Multi-Hazard insurance schemes.
- Discuss tsunamis with your family. Everyone should know what to do in tsunami situation. Discussing tsunamis ahead of time will help reduce fear and save precious time in an emergency. Review flood safety and preparedness measures with your family.
What to do after a Tsunami :
- You should continue using a Weather Radio or staying tuned to a Coast Guard emergency frequency station or a local radio or television station for updated emergency information.
- Tsunami may have damaged roads, bridges, or other places that may be unsafe.
- Check yourself for injuries and get first aid if necessary before helping injured or trapped persons.
- If someone needs to be rescued, call professionals with the right equipment to help.
- Help people who require special assistance – Infants, elderly people, those without transportation, large families who may need additional help in an emergency situation, people with disabilities, and the people who care for them.
- Avoid disaster areas.
- Your presence might hamper rescue and other emergency operations and put you at further risk from the residual effects of floods, such as contaminated water, crumbled roads, landslides, mudflows, and other hazards.
- Use the telephone only for emergency calls.
- Stay out of a building if water remains around it. Tsunami water, like floodwater,
- can undermine foundations, causing buildings to sink, floors to crack, or walls to collapse.
- When re-entering buildings or homes, use extreme caution. Tsunami-driven floodwater may have damaged buildings where you least expect it. Carefully watch every step you take.
- Wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and sturdy shoes. The most common injury following a disaster is cut feet.
- Wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and sturdy shoes. The most common following a disaster is cut feet.
- Use battery-powered lanterns or flashlights when examining buildings. Battery powered lighting is the safest and easiest to use, and it does not present a fire hazard for the user, occupants, or building. Do not use candles.
- Examine walls, floors, doors, staircases, and windows to make sure that the building is not in danger of collapsing. Inspect foundations for cracks or damage.
- Cracks and damage to a foundation can render a building uninhabitable.
- Check for gas leaks. If you smell gas or hear a blowing or hissing noise, open a window and get everyone outside quickly.
- Look for electrical system damage.
- Check for damage to sewage and water lines.
- Watch for loose plaster, drywall and ceilings that could fall.
- Take pictures of the damage, both of the building and its contents, for insurance claims. Open the windows and doors to help dry the building.
- Shovel mud before it solidifies.
- Check food supplies.
- Any food that has come in contact with floodwater may be contaminated and should be thrown out.