Alaska has experienced major destructive tsunamis in 1938, 1946, 1957, and 1964, and has more than 70 communities at risk of future tsunamis

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarded $452,895 under the Meteorologic and Hydrologic Modernization Development program (CFDA 11.467) to the Alaska Department of Military and Veteran's Affairs, Alaska National Guard Division, effective September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026. The award funds the Alaska Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program and supports the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program's (NTHMP) objective to reduce tsunami impacts in Alaska's 70 at-risk coastal communities through hazard assessment and community preparedness.

Deliverables under this award include continued development of tsunami inundation maps for coastal Alaska communities, creation of education and mitigation products to advance preparedness and support warning systems, promotion of local and state-level tsunami planning through workshops, and implementation of a sustainable education and outreach program supporting the National Weather Service's TsunamiReady Program. These products and activities directly address Alaska's significant tsunami risk, evidenced by major destructive events in 1938, 1946, 1957, and 1964, with the 1964 earthquake-generated tsunami causing over 100 deaths and damages equivalent to approximately $835 million in current dollars.

Tsunamis generated by the 1964 great alaska earthquake resulted in over 100 deaths and $84 million in damages. Adjusted for inflation, today's equivalent estimate would be around $835 milliona 900% increase. The potential death and devastation from future tsunamis make the coastal areas of alaska extremely dangerous. The hazards from local, seismically generated tsunamis, combined with the potential for earthquake-triggered landslides to generate tsunamis, put coastal alaska communities and lives at risk. Though all tsunami hazards are only a matter of time, the frequency of earthquakes and landslides in alaska makes this recurrence time dangerously short. To mitigate potential tsunami damage and loss of life, IT is imperative to assess tsunami hazards for coastal communities accurately. This is best achieved through scenario planning, mitigation tools, and broad-based education in support of the tsunamiready program. Coastal alaskans need accurate and effective tsunami hazard mitigation tools and educational materials to prepare for the next earthquake and tsunami. The alaska tsunami hazard mitigation program and inundation mapping, a state-level tsunami hazard reduction program, seeks funding from the national tsunami hazard mitigation program (NTHMP) to continue development of tsunami inundation maps, provide education and mitigation products that advance preparedness and support warning systems, promote local- and state-level tsunami planning through workshops, and continue a sustainable education-outreach program to support the national weather service's tsunamiready program. This proposal supports the primary goal of mitigating the impact of tsunamis through accurate hazard assessment, public education and mitigation, and community response planning. This goal will be accomplished by tasks that support the following objectives: objective 1: modeling and mapping, and publishing reports through the alaska division of geological & geophysical surveys objective 2: mitigation and education objective 3: tsunamiready the state of alaska supports the tsunamiready program and works with NWS and the NTHMP to refine criteria for tsunami-prone communities to be recognized under the program. The program facilitates a federal-state partnership that provides the tools necessary to develop a community-based tsunami program. We will work cooperatively with local warning coordination meteorologists and the NWS tsunamiready program to conduct joint outreach and education to inform communities of the tsunamiready requirements and will continue to work with federal and state partners to ensure tools are available that allow communities to meet tsunamiready program criteria. Our goal is to prepare communities as tsunamiready.