The Triplicate reports on how Del Norte, California residents are blissfully ignorant of tsunami danger. Residents were surveyed on their knowledge of preparedness in the event of a tidal wave. The area is second only to Alaska in the number of tsunamis that have hit the coast there in the last century. A professor at Humboldt State University was shocked by the survey results she found.

While she said there were many people who were well-informed about the dangers of earthquakes and tsunamis, there are a large number of respondents who didn’t have food and water supplies prepared and didn’t know where to evacuate if they were in an inundation zone.

There were even some people who said they wanted to ignore the issue because they thought that simply talking about earthquakes and tsunamis might jinx the calm and cause the earth to move and ocean to lurch.

I’m speechless. Okay, I’m really not speechless, but I’m trying to be nice about it.

Tsunamis are unique among natural disasters in that you don’t have a choice if one’s headed your way: You have to evacuate. You can’t bunker down in your home and hope to wait it out, because a massive wall of water is bearing down on you. This necessitates a different sort of emergency preparedness. You need to have an emergency kit in your car at all times, and know multiple evacuation routes to get to higher ground if you live in an area that’s prone to experience them.

Source:

http://www.triplicate.com/20091204107635/News/Local-News/Tsunami-ready-Apparently-not