KODIAK — The University of Alaska Fairbanks and state officials are seeking public input on new guidelines for how coastal communities should respond to tsunamis.
New modeling shows the potential for extreme currents and flooding if a large tsunami were to hit Alaska’s coastal communities and possible damage in areas where it wasn’t previously predicted, The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported. In Kodiak, the entire Benny Benson State Airport could flood in a large tsunami, and new data show waves heading farther into the downtown area and residential neighborhoods than current maps, which are based on a 1964 tsunami.
University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers and representatives from the National Weather Service, Tsunami Warning Center and Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management discussed the new information during a meeting in the Kodiak Emergency Operations Center.
The draft guidelines suggest different plans of action for tsunamis caused by earthquakes off the Alaska Peninsula and ones caused by shifts in more distant locations such as earthquakes off the coast of Chile, Japan or the Pacific Northwest.
Distance-source tsunamis can take hours to arrive, meaning Kodiak and other Alaska communities would have advanced warning while local-source tsunamis may give little to no notification.
The preliminary draft instructs boaters to head to water deeper than 30 fathoms for imminent distant-source tsunamis if vessels are already offshore. The guidelines recommend heading for higher ground rather than trying to leave port if a vessel is tied up.
The draft also contains suggestions for local-source tsunamis.
For local source tsunamis, the preliminary guidelines recommend going to high ground if a boat is tied up, making a judgment call on whether to head to port and high ground, or head offshore and going to water more than 100 fathoms deep.
The guidelines and mapping are expected to be released over the fall and early next year.
