Measures against tsunamis

Personal measures

• Where the danger is acute, inhabitants living at the coasts are evacuated to higher ground lying at least one kilometre from the coast.
• When ships at sea receive a tsunami warning, they must remain out at sea, avoiding low-lying coastal areas and the ports.

Technical measures

• A tsunami early-warning service is provided in regions of the Pacific often affected by tsunamis. The tsunami service records subterranean and submarine earthquakes and uses this data to calculate the arrival time of tsunamis at the coasts. This enables warnings to be issued several hours in advance, first to the authorities, who then inform the public in the affected areas and, where necessary, prepare for them to be evacuated.

• In ports located in particularly endangered cities such as Shizuoka (Japan), high sea walls have been erected to prevent tsunami damage.