The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced that “a new suite of online portal and smartphone apps is now providing information on tsunami zones located in the Pacific Northwest.” Designed to provide “an at-a-glance view of tsunami hazard zones along the coasts of Oregon and Washington,” the online portal, The Pacific Northwest Tsunami Evacuation Zones, along with the free apps designed for iPhone and Android users, “are potentially life-saving tools now available for free to the people who live, work and play on our ocean and coastal waters in the Northwest,” in the view of Zdenka Willis, a program director of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS^®).

The tool was designed, developed and launched by The Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing System (NANOOS) which is a regional member of IOOS^® in a partnership with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. The two state agencies were jointly “responsible for the original development of the evacuation zones.” Jan Newton, executive director for NANOOS, said, “The system integrates maps and allows users to see if they are in an evacuation zone, as well as plan evacuation routes. Planning tools like this are essential to safeguarding lives and property.”

NOAA’s National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program provided the funding to develop the tsunami inundation models used to map the evacuation zones displayed in the app.