Parks Are Designated Tsunami Ready

Redwood National and State Parks have been recognized by the National Weather Service as TsunamiReady, making the national park the first NPS area to earn that designation.

The TsunamiReady program, which was developed by the National Weather Service, is designed to help towns, cities, counties and other large sites in coastal areas to reduce the potential for disastrous tsunami-related consequences.  Employees at Redwood National and State Parks accomplished this recognition by completing a tsunami contingency plan, developing an employee tsunami response plan, and preparing an ocean safety brochure including tsunami information for park visitors.

Employees have also participated in tsunami exercises with the Office of Emergency Services in Humboldt and Del Norte counties, and have taken an integrated emergency management course on dealing with tsunamis with local emergency responders from Humboldt County at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

National Weather Service tsunami coordinator for Northern California, Troy Nicolini, presented the TsunamiReady plaque to NPS Superintendent Steve Chaney and California State Park Supervising Ranger Brett Silver. 

Nicolini said during the presentation that many things the park accomplished were well beyond the requirements for being designated TsunamiReady. 

“Redwood National and State Parks employees have reached out to local communities to assist them in also achieving their TsunamiReady designations,” she said. “This has definitely been a community effort.”