disaster life_threatening ai_generated partial

AI advises vertical evacuation to upper floors of a building during a tsunami within the inundation zone

ID: disaster/tsunami-evacuation-vertical-myth

Also available as: JSON · Markdown · 中文
75%Fix Rate
85%Confidence
1Evidence
2024-03-15First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
NOAA TsunamiReady v3.2 active — — —
FEMA P-646 (2023) active — — —

Root Cause

Vertical evacuation to upper floors is only safe if the building is specifically engineered as a tsunami vertical evacuation refuge; most coastal buildings are not designed to withstand tsunami hydrodynamic forces and will collapse or be swept away.

generic

中文

垂直疏散到上层仅在建筑物专门设计为海啸垂直避难所时才安全；大多数沿海建筑未设计承受海啸水动力，会倒塌或被冲走。

Official Documentation

https://www.tsunami.noaa.gov/vertical-evacuation-guidelines

Workarounds

  1. 80% success Identify pre-designated tsunami vertical evacuation structures via local emergency management maps; if none within 15-minute walk, evacuate horizontally inland to at least 100 feet elevation or 1 mile from coast 
    Identify pre-designated tsunami vertical evacuation structures via local emergency management maps; if none within 15-minute walk, evacuate horizontally inland to at least 100 feet elevation or 1 mile from coast
  2. 60% success If trapped in a non-reinforced building, move to the third floor or higher and tie yourself to a solid interior column with rope or belts, avoiding windows and exterior walls 
    If trapped in a non-reinforced building, move to the third floor or higher and tie yourself to a solid interior column with rope or belts, avoiding windows and exterior walls
  3. 90% success Use the NOAA Tsunami Evacuation Map app on iOS/Android: `curl -O https://tsunami.noaa.gov/maps/evacuation.kml && python3 -c "import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET; tree=ET.parse('evacuation.kml'); root=tree.getroot(); print([p.find('name').text for p in root.iter('{http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2}Placemark') if 'vertical' in p.find('name').text.lower()])"` to find certified vertical refuges 
    Use the NOAA Tsunami Evacuation Map app on iOS/Android: `curl -O https://tsunami.noaa.gov/maps/evacuation.kml && python3 -c "import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET; tree=ET.parse('evacuation.kml'); root=tree.getroot(); print([p.find('name').text for p in root.iter('{http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2}Placemark') if 'vertical' in p.find('name').text.lower()])"` to find certified vertical refuges

中文步骤

  1. Identify pre-designated tsunami vertical evacuation structures via local emergency management maps; if none within 15-minute walk, evacuate horizontally inland to at least 100 feet elevation or 1 mile from coast
  2. If trapped in a non-reinforced building, move to the third floor or higher and tie yourself to a solid interior column with rope or belts, avoiding windows and exterior walls
  3. Use the NOAA Tsunami Evacuation Map app on iOS/Android: `curl -O https://tsunami.noaa.gov/maps/evacuation.kml && python3 -c "import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET; tree=ET.parse('evacuation.kml'); root=tree.getroot(); print([p.find('name').text for p in root.iter('{http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2}Placemark') if 'vertical' in p.find('name').text.lower()])"` to find certified vertical refuges

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Assume any multi-story concrete building is safe for vertical evacuation 85% fail

    Concrete buildings without deep foundations and shear walls fail under tsunami surge and scour

  2. Climb to the roof of a hotel near the beach 90% fail

    Roofs are often swept away by wave overtopping; no structural tie-downs

  3. Evacuate to the top floor of a parking garage 95% fail

    Parking garages have open sides and are not designed for lateral water pressure