Updated 9/28/2021
How To Get Ready For A Tsunami
There once was a man who was so afraid of earthquakes that he did everything he possibly could to prepare for one. He had water, food, and first aid kits lining the walls of his ocean front home. He had his bookcases and cabinets bolted to the wall. Everyone in his home knew where to run and where to hide when “the big one” eventually hit.
Then one morning the big one came. He and his family ran into the spots they had practiced, into doorways, under the heavy tables. It seemed like an eternity before the rumbling stopped. Everyone just looked at each other, scared but smiling. They’d done it! They were okay. They had food, they had shelter – this wasn’t so bad.
The man rushed to the door followed by his family. The sun was shining, and they were thrilled to be alive. Then one of the kids heard a strange roar. Seconds later they could all hear it. And then they saw it. A ten-foot wave was headed right at them. They ran up the street, up the hill as fast as they could. They made it to the top just in time to watch the water swallow up their neighborhood, their home and with it, all their supplies. The man looked at his wife and said, “That was strange. I never saw it coming.”
The moral of the story? Just because you’re ready for what you think might happen, it doesn’t mean you’re ready for something you would never expect in a million years. Tsunamis are exactly that type of event — especially if you live in the western United States or anywhere in the Pacific Ring Of Fire. In other words earthquake country.
And with the way the world has been the last few years — from hurricanes to wildfires, tornadoes and oh yeah, COVID — having an up to date Evacuation Plan and Get Back To Life Plan is the perfect way to keep your family safe and connected no matter WHAT is happening around you.
So what’s the best way to prepare for a tsunami?
Next to earthquakes, tsunamis are probably the second most difficult type of disaster to prepare for, because you usually don’t get a lot of warning when one is about to strike. Since tsunamis are usually set off by earthquakes, the earthquake itself provides the warning that a tsunami might be imminent. But that’s only if the tsunami strikes the same area as the original earthquake. In Japan for example, the earthquake struck and the tsunami followed later. In other instances, an earthquake struck one area of the world while the tsunami went the other direction striking people who never felt the earthquake. And when they do strike, they usually hit so quickly and with so much force (like the tsunami in Thailand) that people in it’s wake have no time to do anything but run for their lives.
Even though some countries have tsunami warning systems in place, they still aren’t that reliable. So the best way to prepare your important documents, files, information and keepsakes for a tsunami is to make sure that your earthquake preparation is up to date. We have a few great blog posts right here like preparing for an earthquake and How to Earthquake Proof Your Bedroom.
Besides knowing where your tsunami evacuation routes are and how to use them, the most important part of preparing for a tsunami is having everything you need for an evacuation:
At your fingertips
or
Already in your evacuation location
So how do we prepare for tsunamis? We always follow the…
Three Step Approach
The First Step, is to make sure that you have your earthquake survival gear and know how to secure your home and personal safety when an earthquake or tsunami strikes.
The Second Step, is to make sure that you’re able to grab everything you need – necessities, keepsakes, vital information – and leave for a safer location, in less than ten minutes. It’s a lot easier than it sounds. All you need is to do is to take the necessary steps now, to ensure you have access to all the items and information that will help you get back to living your normal life, as quickly and easily as possible. You’ll also want to make sure that the things that are most vital to you — your important papers, financial and insurance information, treasured photos, videos and music and scannable keepsakes are backed up onto a portable hard drive and stored in a safe deposit box or safe, in the town where you will go during evacuation. That way it will be safe, sound and waiting for you when you arrive.
The Third Step is to make sure that you have a pre-written plan of what you’ll do and where you’ll go when a disaster strikes, including a plan for how you’ll get back to your normal life, once the disaster is over.
If you live in an area where a tsunami might strike, you absolutely need an Evacuation Plan and a Get Back To Life Plan. If you don’t know the tsunami evacuation routes in your area, call your local fire department for this information immediately and do one or two trial runs finding and using the evacuation route to ensure that you know where you’re going, without a wall of water in close pursuit. And while you’re at it, make sure you also ask them where the emergency shelters are in your area in case you suddenly need one. You always need to know where you’re going and what you and your family would do if your area becomes uninhabitable. If necessary make a plan with other relatives or neighbors to evacuate together and share transportation and costs.
Even if your home is safe from rising flood waters and away from the areas predicted to feel the heaviest impact of the storm, your neighborhood and city might still without power or basic city services for a few days — or a few weeks. Just as survivors of Hurricane Isaac and Hurricane Katrina! Telephone and/or cell service may also be down. Not only does that mean you won’t have light, but you also won’t have power for computers or televisions and radios. Grocery and drug stores won’t be able to ring up purchases, ATMs won’t work, garage door openers might not function. Name any tool or convenience we rely on in this world and chances are it’s powered by electricity.
We aren’t going to get into the details of how to turn off your gas, when to boil water or a list of items to have on hand for an earthquake, because there are literally hundreds of sources for that information. In fact here are a few of our favorite guides and videos:
Tsunami Guide/Checklist Tsunami Preparedness from NOAA
You should also create or update your evacuation checklist, detailing the items that you and your family would need if you were unable to live in your home for three or more days. This includes all of your necessities, prescriptions, vital documents (or access to them on portable hard drives, online or in out of area safe deposit boxes), keepsakes, personal and professional contacts, ID and basic medical history and anything else that your family will need while evacuated.
We want you to think about something.
Think about the coverage of the last few tsunamis and earthquakes you saw on CNN. Remember the faces of the people in the midst of the quake zone or the eye of the storm?
They looked shell-shocked, terrified, lost. Most of those people, were at least moderately prepared for a disaster. Those in earthquake country most likely had stockpiled some food and water, those in hurricane country might even have evacuated and done everything their local news and emergency authorities told them to do. And yet, after the disaster, they were standing there, scared and helpless, because their homes, the people they loved, and basically their entire lives have been destroyed to the point that their own existence was now unrecognizable. All of those people, rich and poor, young and old — they all had one thing in common. They had NO idea where to go and what to do from here. That’s exactly what happened to families in Japan after their earthquake and tsunami. If you’d like to read more about that, take a look at Living In A Cardboard House.
And THAT – knowing what to do and where to go after the disaster, is step three. The most important step of all.
Facing a disaster without giving yourself a plan to recover from it, is like trying to build a house with no blueprint and no tools!
Having two plans can make all the difference in getting you through those first few days and weeks after a disaster strikes.
What are the plans? They are the Family Evacuation Plan and the Get Back To Life Plan — the same plans that we’ve built into our book Keep Everything You Love Safe.
The evacuation plan starts with one question. If you were at home or at work and suddenly had to evacuate your home, or your general area, where would you go?
As you think about the locations you’ll use for your evacuation, consider, the people traveling with you, how you’ll get there (car, bus, plane), any pets traveling with you and whether those locations will actually work for you – for instance are they close to stores or services your family might need, like pharmacies, clothing, banks and doctors.
We suggest that people have three different locations in mind, to give you different types of locations and choices depending on the circumstances. As you create your plan, write everything down in detail. If you have to use this plan, you and the people you love are probably going to be in panic mode and following an easy to understand plan, will help calm and focus you.
Write down the people who will be traveling with you, and any special instructions you’ll need to gather everyone together, in case a disaster or emergency occurs while you’re all away from home. Name the location that you and your family will use to meet up with each other and the location you will be evacuating to, if you cannot live in your home, but your immediate area is still safe. Include the address of the location, contact phone, email address and directions.
Next choose a location (writing down the details, address and contact information) that your family will use if you not only need to evacuate your home, but your immediate area or city. This might happen during a moderate hurricane or a tornado. Your third location is out of state, for a serious, widely destructive emergency like the Japan or Chile Earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, the Colorado Wildfires, or other disaster that will make your entire region uninhabitable.
You will also include these locations on your emergency wallet card and your family’s wallet cards. Now, no matter what the disaster, even a fire or local emergency, you and your family will now know where and how to gather, and who will be responsible for what, so you can quickly reunite and travel on to your emergency location together. If you like, you can also give a card to the person you chose to be your out-of-area contact as well. Don’t forget to give yourself other tools that you can use in an emergency, like GPS enabled watches to help you and your family pin down your precise locations. Here is one of the best articles we’ve ever seen on choosing the best GPS enabled watch for your particular needs.
Will you have any pets traveling with you? Be sure to fill out the pet section, so that you will have all the information you need for them, like the name and numbers for the veterinarian, their licenses, and names/numbers of kennels in the location you are evacuating to and any prescriptions or special instructions you’ll need until you return home.
Your Get Back To Life Plan
The worst part of any disaster, short of losing a loved one, is the possibility that the home you love and care for and everything in it would be damaged beyond repair. That is what your Get Back To Life Plan is all about.
Imagine that you and your family have survived a tsunami, but had to leave your area because it is uninhabitable.
You’re in your evacuation location two days after the flood. The phone rings. It’s a good friend of yours, who has just toured your neighborhood and is calling to tell you that your home is badly damaged and he doubts that you will be able to live in it for several months, if ever again.
After you and your family hold each other for a while and talk, you finally feel strong enough to open your GYST Notebook. There you find your Get Back To Life Plan and begin making calls to your insurance agent, your contractor and your boss. You call the local real estate agent in your evacuation city and ask her to begin looking for temporary housing, register your children in the local school, and begin calling the contacts you need (that you jotted down just in case), to help you settle in. Getting settled is easier than you thought, since you have copies of all of the vital documents you need, like your birth certificates and property deeds in a safe deposit box at the local bank. It takes some time, but with hard work and a lot of courage, you and your family are back to living in a matter of weeks.
Now imagine the same scenario, the same phone call, holding your family, talking and then realizing that you have no plan and no clue how to get back to living your life. It’s CNN coverage all over again. The best part of this little scenario is that it hasn’t happened to you and that you have time right now, to make sure no matter what ever occurs in your area, you and your family will be prepared.
If you don’t have a copy of our Get Back To Life Plan yet, just download it here.
Take a few minutes to think about the following questions:
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How will we handle our bank accounts, paying our monthly bills and receiving our paychecks? How much emergency cash do we need to have, while traveling?
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What are our credit card limits and toll free numbers for emergency increases?
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How will we work? Will we work remotely or have to look for new positions? What people or contacts can we call about temporary or permanent jobs?
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How will we handle our medical, dental and prescription needs while in the new location? What doctors and dentists can we use while there?
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How long can we stay in our evacuation location? If we need to remain evacuated longer, where will we go/stay? Who will our real estate contacts be, if we need to find new permanent or temporary housing?
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How are we going to secure the property or vehicles we had to leave behind?
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How will we take care of our pets, during the evacuation and until we find new permanent housing?
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How will we handle our transportation needs? What contacts will we need to purchase or lease vehicles?
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How will we handle our daycare needs? How will we handle getting our children into school if necessary? What schools or contacts will we need, to enroll them in a new school in a temporary or new location?
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How will we handle any special needs in our family?
Once you’ve answered the questions, get your family together to work out any potential problems you have uncovered and then draft your plan. And don’t forget to compile a list of real estate agents, financial contacts and jobs, schools, doctors and other professionals or information that you might need to establish yourself in the new city temporarily or permanently.
Starting over is never easy, especially when it happens because of a disaster or other life changing emergency. But taking a few hours now to think through and draft a plan, will give you and your family the direction, information and support that you need, to get through not only the first hours and days after a disaster, but the first steps back to living the life you’ve worked so hard to build.
High Tech Toys
Here are some high-tech toys are designed to help you get the information you need, keepsakes you treasure and people you love, through life’s little and not so little disasters and easily as possible. In other words, toys that are just waiting to smooth out life’s little speed bumps.
9 Inch Portable Digital TV
Amazon Gift Card
Artix Power Bank Water Resistant Backpack
BenjiLock By Hampton
Casio Men’s GA-100 XL Series G-Shock
Coleman Multi-Panel LED Lantern
Complete Earthquake Bag Emergency Kit
Doc Spartan Combat Ready Ointment
Eton Ultimate AM/FM/NOAA Radio Smartphone Charger
Garmin Drive 61 USA LMT-S GPS Navigator System
Goal Zero Yeti 150 Portable Power Station
Gold Tigerking Digital Security Safe
Iridium GO! Satellite Phone Wi-Fi Hotspot
Jackery External Battery Charger
LuminAID PackLite 2-in-1 Phone Charger Lanterns
Nanoflow X – Lifeline Dry Bag
Quakehold Museum Wax
Quakehold Straps
SanDisk 500GB Extreme Portable External Hard Drive
SignalVault RFID Blocking Credit Debit Card Protector
Spin Power Electric Charging Station
Sprigs Unisex Banjees 2 Pocket Wrist Wallet
Swiss+Tech ST81005 Auto Emergency Escape Tool
Tigerking Digital Security Safe
Tile Mate & Slim 4-Pack
WeMo Smartphone Connected Electrical Outlets
The COVID pandemic has created a new list of toys that people can’t do without — including some very cool high-tech solutions to unexpected challenges. Like staying healthy and working from home! Here are some of our favorites.
Cubii Pro Seated Under Desk Elliptical Machine
I’m Smiling On The Inside Face Masks
iHealth No-Touch Forehead Thermometer
iProvèn Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor
KODAK Luma 150 Pocket Projector
No-Touch Door Opener, Button Pusher Tool
Owlet Smart Sock 2 Baby Monitor
PhoneSoap 3 UV Smartphone Sanitizer
Sony Tie-Clip-Style Omnidirectional Microphone
Total Gym APEX G5 Total Body Strength Training
Zacurate Fingertip Pulse Oximeter
For a book’s worth of tips and tools on getting your stuff backed up and together, pick up a copy of our book “Ready In 10” or “Keep Everything You Love Safe” in paperback or via instant download.
Have Fun Getting Your Stuff Together!
Keep Everything You Love Safe | The Book Inspired By The Blog
Keep Everything You Love Safe, is filled with quick, easy, 5 minute steps you can take right now, to get everything that’s important to you organized, safe, sound and accessible. Each section covers a different area, from backing up and fixing family photos, home movies and music, to vital documents, medical and financial information and even getting your digital life in order. Paperback Or Instant Download
Back It Up
I don’t know about you, but the most important keepsakes in our house are our old family photos, followed closely by our home movies and music. But grabbing piles of photo albums and all your picture frames off the walls is pretty hard to do when you’re running out the door! With Back It Up, you’ll learn quick, easy steps to back up your print/digital photos, home movies, music (including vinyl & cassettes) and save them in multiple, disaster proof locations. Paperback Or Instant Download
Get Your Stuff Together 