The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on March 18 proclaimed March 22–30 as Tsunami Preparedness Week and voted unanimously to receive and file a county briefing that highlights public confusion during the Dec. 5, 2024 earthquake and the need for community evacuation practice.

Board Chair Michelle Bushnell said the proclamation supports countywide outreach and preparedness. The board’s action followed a multi-speaker briefing from county emergency staff and the National Weather Service, and public comment from residents concerned about local evacuation routes and “safe zone” accessibility.

Why it matters: The briefing underscored two distinct tsunami scenarios. For locally generated tsunamis tied to nearby earthquakes, waves can arrive in 10 minutes or less, leaving little time to wait for emergency alerts. For distant events, officials said residents typically have hours to evacuate. National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Elward told the board, “the earthquake needs to be your warning” for a local event and urged people to evacuate on foot to nearby high ground once shaking stops.

County emergency staff described the Dec. 5 alert sequence, when an initial magnitude was reported high enough to trigger automatic federal wireless emergency alerts and a tsunami warning, and later readings were revised. A county official said the message and the public’s mixed responses served “as a big wake-up call for the community.” The county’s Office of Emergency Services urged residents to confirm they are signed up for Humboldt Alert and to use the tsunami inundation maps on the Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group and California Geological Survey sites to identify safe routes and high-ground destinations.

Officials also announced a coordinated community exercise: a tsunami and earthquake preparedness drill at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 26, targeted largely at coastal hazard zones. The county said it will scale back a previously planned countywide notification test and focus messaging on the coast because a December warning had already activated broad alerts.

Public comments ranged from technical questions about how tsunami hazard zones are modeled to practical concerns about access to designated high-ground areas. A caller asked whether “30-foot” waves could reach inland; county staff explained that inland inundation decays with distance from the shore and that the official inundation maps include buffers to account for modeling uncertainty.

Board action: Supervisor Wilson moved and the board approved a motion to receive and file the tsunami preparedness briefing. The motion passed 5–0. The recorded action notes the county will (a) encourage participation in the March 26 drill, (b) publish guidance about Humboldt Alert sign-ups (humboldtgov.org/alerts) and safe routes, and (c) share an after-action report on the Dec. 5 event with the board and make it available to the public.

What officials emphasized: For local earthquakes, officials said, do not wait for a phone alert — evacuate on foot to nearby high ground or dunes and avoid driving, which can create gridlock that endangers people. For distant-source tsunamis there is more time to collect pets and belongings and drive to safety.

The board’s vote sends the county’s preparedness message into the community ahead of the March 26 drill and formalizes the county’s intent to continue mapping, outreach and coordination with the National Weather Service and local alert systems.