Maybe add to your getaway checklist: Are there tsunami evacuation maps?

Editor’s note: Pacific NW magazine’s weekly Backstory provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the writer’s process or an extra tidbit that accompanies our cover story. This week’s cover story explores how a tiny stretch of WA coast became the Northwest’s tsunami prep leader.

I’VE WRITTEN A LOT about earthquake and tsunami risks in Washington. It’s not something I dwell on, but I do take it seriously — especially when I’m visiting vulnerable stretches of coast with little high ground.

I usually map out hotels or Airbnbs and settle on one that would give me the best chance of making it to safety if a tsunami were on the way. I also quiz the folks at the front desk about evacuation routes. (Unfortunately, they often don’t have a clue, let alone maps. It bugs me that hotels don’t have to post tsunami evacuation information, like they do for fires.)

But I was in a hurry when I booked accommodations for a reporting trip to Westport in October for this week’s cover story and didn’t pay as much attention as I normally would.  

The place was lovely but located at the far end of town. The first night, I mapped the distance to the evacuation structure at Ocosta Elementary School: 3.8 miles, which Google estimated would take me one hour and 17 minutes on foot. The first waves from a tsunami would be expected to hit that part of the coast in about 25 minutes. (The lighthouse, which sits on a small rise, was closer, but I’m not convinced that hill would be high enough in a major event.)

Twenty years ago, when the reality about the region’s seismic hazards began to sink in, chambers of commerce in some coastal tourist towns went ballistic. They didn’t want any mention of tsunamis, for fear it would scare visitors away.

My motivation is just the opposite. I’m happy to visit communities that openly address the threat and don’t balk at posting evacuation signs and maps. I avoid the ones where business folks and residents are in denial.

No place has made more progress in terms of preparedness than Westport and the South Beach area, and I will definitely be back. It’s a gorgeous part of the world, and the people I’ve met there are truly special.

As soon as the new evacuation structure in Westport’s marina district opens — hopefully in a couple of years — I won’t hesitate to stay in that part of town again. But until then, I’m choosing someplace closer to the school.

NOTE: For a deep dive into the way FEMA’s risk assessment process underestimates tsunami hazards in the Northwest — and makes it harder for communities to get funding for escape towers — check out this piece in Politico by Seattle freelance writer Eric Scigliano (st.news/tsunami).