• A tsunami can cause major damage and loss of life along coastal areas.car hotel disaster accident image by paul prescott from Fotolia.com
  
  Traveling at speeds of up to 500 miles per hour, a tsunami wave can be among the most powerful destructive forces on earth. These waves typically occur as a result of earthquakes that give little or no warning for nearby shorelines, but they are powerful enough to send tsunami waves across thousands of miles of ocean to another shore far away. Knowing what to do when this natural event approaches your area can mean the difference between life and death for you and your family.
  
  

Broadcast warnings

• Listen to broadcasts that keep citizens up to date of a potential tsunami situation. National Oceaninc and Atmospheric Adminstration weather radios are especially helpful in sending out immediate warnings and instructions. Also, local news stations are typically quick to respond and get the message out to the people in their viewing or listening area.
  
  Listen carefully to instructions and follow them in order to remain as safe as possible until the all clear has been issued for your area.
  
  

Stay away from the shoreline

• It may seem like an obvious response to a tsunami warning to move away from the shoreline and seek higher ground, but staying away is just as important. Tsunamis do not occur as a single wave, but are instead a series of waves that are unpredictable. This means moving away to higher ground for the arrival of a first wave is pointless if you return to the shore only to be swept up in a second, potentially larger wave that arrives soon after.
  
  Never go near the water or return to low ground until the all-clear signal has been given. Only then is it safe to go back to these areas.
  
  

Abandon possessions

• Save your life, not your stuff. A tsunami can arrive very quickly in some instances or it may be hours before the waves reach the area. Regardless, it is unwise to try and save everything if there is no time to prepare. In the event that the tsunami will be upon you in a short time, do not try to move furniture to higher floors in the house or prepare your property for the incoming flooding, simply get out and move to higher ground. Property can be replaced, but life cannot.
  
  

Look for natural warning signs

• Look for natural warning signs that a tsunami is imminent. You may not hear about the tsunami beforehand in some cases.
  
  The most obvious natural warning sign is an earthquake in a coastal area. When in the ocean or on the beach or nearby areas when an earthquake strikes, immediately move to higher ground and tune into local broadcasts to find out if a tsunami was generated.
  
  When a tsunami is about to reach a coastal area, the sea will recede and water near the shoreline will become more shallow or back up altogether. If a sudden movement of water away from shore happens, it is important to get away from the low-lying coastal area immediately. The tsunami may arrive any moment.