The COMET Program is pleased to announce the publication of "Community Tsunami Preparedness: 2nd Edition". This 6-hour module is intended primarily for emergency managers in coastal communities that could be impacted by a tsunami. In addition to discussing the science behind tsunamis, their formation, and their hazards, the module provides an overview of forecast products and tools that emergency managers can use to help prepare their communities for these threats.
The first version of the module was released in May, 2011. This 2nd edition provides new information about regional tsunami risks, evacuations, and the recovery process. In addition, a new section contains video interviews with Crescent City, CA officials who describe what it was like to prepare for the March 11, 2011 tsunami and what lessons can be shared with other coastal emergency managers.
The module also contains links to extensive Reference and Resources sections. The latter provides tsunami PowerPoint presentations for each major U.S. region (Atlantic Coast, Gulf Coast, West Coast, Hawaii and Pacific Islands, Alaska, and Caribbean) that can be downloaded and customized for a particular location or need.
Please follow this link to start the module: http://www.meted.ucar.edu/tsunami/community/.
For those of you not familiar with the COMET Program, it is totally free, sponsored by the National Weather Service. The only obligation is that you will have to create a username and password. Once you are in the website you'll see many other training modules for environmental and geo-sciences too besides this new one for tsunamis. The ones on floods are top notch. ~Patti Wnek, Service Coordination Hydrologist, NOAA, National Weather Service, Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center