Contact:  Dane Konop                              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
               Ruth Barritt                       5/15/97

A new federal-state center opening May 17 at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore., will produce maps that will help local governments identify hazardous areas which can be evacuated during tsunami emergencies.

The tsunami mapping center is a joint effort of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the states of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. The center will be staffed by two scientists, with an annual budget of $200,000.

The center will begin mapping efforts this year in Washington in the areas of Gray's Harbor, Willapa Bay and Long Beach from Moclips to the Columbia River and in the Gold Beach and Astoria-Warrenton areas of Oregon in cooperation with the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology and the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. Similar mapping work is expected to follow in Alaska and California in 1998 and in Hawaii in 1999.

A tsunami is a series of ocean waves that can be generated by earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and even meteorite impacts. They can cause catastrophic loss of life and property damage when they sweep over coastal areas.

"Because of the likelihood of earthquakes, communities along the entire west coast of North America, particularly Alaska and the area from northern California to Washington, as well as Hawaii and other Pacific islands, are under the constant threat of potentially devastating tsunamis," said Eddie Bernard, director of NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle.

"The new mapping center will augment existing tsunami mitigation efforts by both the states and the federal government, including NOAA's Alaska and Pacific Tsunami Warning Centers that warn Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii of approaching tsunamis.

"NOAA has also begun the installation of a network of real-time tsunami detection buoys that will telemeter measurements of tsunamis in the deep ocean to U.S. coastal areas. We plan to deploy the first of these buoys off Alaska in July," Bernard said.

Tsunami evacuation signs and public information material will be unveiled at the tsunami inundation mapping center opening, which will be held in conjunction with the opening of a new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Coastal Field Office and an expanded public wing of the Hatfield Marine Science Center.

NOTE: For additional information on tsunamis on the World Wide Web, go to http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tsunami. All NOAA press releases and links to other NOAA material can be found on the Internet at http://www.noaa.gov/public-affairs . Journalists who wish to be added to our press release distribution list, or who wish to switch from fax to e-mail delivery, can send an e-mail to releases@www.noaa.gov , or fax to (202) 482-3154.