Evacuation + Assembly Areas

Know Where to Go

Situational awareness can save your life. No matter where your travels take you along the Oregon Coast, being aware of your surroundings and knowing where to go in an emergency is crucial at all times. If there is a Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) earthquake/tsunami, your course of action may vary if your home is in the tsunami evacuation zone or on high ground, if you’re visiting a favorite business or if you're walking in Nehalem Bay State Park.

Your route to safety will also vary depending on the emergency. It may be different in a wildfire or landslide than your route for a tsunami.

TIP: Once you know where to go, practice getting there with your GoBag regularly.

Do I Stay Or Do I Go?

The only warning of a CSZ event is the earthquake itself. There are no other alarms such as sirens. After that earthquake, you will have extremely limited time to reach high ground. If you are in the evacuation zone, as soon as the shaking has stopped you will need to grab your GoBag, organize your family and pets, and move as quickly as possible to safety. Once you are out of danger, you will need to move to the closest Assembly Area (AA) or, if you are in a Cluster, to your Neighborhood Gathering Site (NGS).

Those already on high ground should be ready to Camp at Home with supplies for immediate shelter on your property. If you do not need to evacuate to an AA, stay home if it is safe.

Assembly Areas

AAs are determined by The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) experts as being safely outside the evacuation zone. AAs are intended to be safe but temporary locations where people can gather. Do not rely on there being food, water, shelter provisions, or tools at the AAs. Your GoBag and its supplies are essential to your survival.

Residents and visitors in the evacuation zone should move to high ground as quickly as possible, then continue to their AA. Remain at the AA until you are told it is safe to leave. Multiple aftershocks and tsunamis will follow the first earthquake and it may be 36 - 48 hours before it is safe to move.

Neighborhood Gathering Sites

Clusters have designated a NGS where neighbors can assemble after a disaster, greatly reducing the numbers that must rely on the AAs. Many Cluster members are trained to conduct Preliminary Safety Assessments (PreSAs) and use their Yellow Radios for emergency communication.

Maps And Resources

DOGAMI is your best resource for AA and evacuation routes. A free smartphone app showing Pacific Northwest tsunami evacuation zones is available from the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS) in partnership with DOGAMI.

The NANOOS Visualization System Tsunami Evacuation smartphone app provides an at-a-glance view of tsunami hazard zones along the coasts of Oregon and Washington. Users can locate their current location on the map to see if they are in a tsunami evacuation zone, plan their own evacuation routes, download published evacuation brochures for the region and print and save customized evacuation brochures centered on an area of interest.

Learn more about DOGAMI and these valuable resources!