Santa Cruz harbor prepared after 2011 tsunami

And after taking that serious hit a few years ago, the Santa Cruz harbor is at ease this evening.

It’s a gorgeous day with lost of kayakers and boaters out on the water.

According to the National Weather Service other than some minor surging, they saw no activity in the waters here. But let’s just say it was a long night at the santa cruz harbor.

What turned out to be a stunning day… started off as dark and frightening at the santa cruz harbor.

Marian olin, port director – santa cruz harbor, “Well I think when we came in, because we had gone through this drill in 2011 we were a little more organized. So we set up a incident command structure, we set up teams of employees and gave them all tasking so we could get things done efficiently.”

Olin says since the 2011 tsunami the harbor takes these watches and warnings much more seriously.Saying the number one priority this morning was getting the word out to all the ‘live a boards’ sleeping on their ships.

Marian olin, “We called them and if we weren’t able to make contact with them on the phone, we actually when and knocked on their vessels and woke them up and said, ‘hey, this is what’s going on.'”

But, for those early risers like pat who don’t live on their boat… An email was the second option.

Pat, boat owner, capitola resident, “this morning I was up getting ready to go to the health club and I checked my email and there was a warning from the harbor. So that’s how I found out, it was like for in the morning”

Pat says, he would have been a little more worried if it were upgraded from a watch to a warning… but after living through the 2011 tsunami he does what he can to keep his boat safe.

Pat says, “even in this harbor”, “some areas were affected and others not at all. So it didn’t create panic in my mind.”

While you should remain calm during these events… you should also have a plan.Tsunami’s can pose a major threat to cities along the coast. You can see areas like these marked in red called “tsunami zones” are the Most at risk for the central coast. The watch was lifted shortly after four this morning, the harbor office and a witness of the 2011 tsunami sonia gosline, very happy.

Sonia gosline, santa cruz resident, “i’m glad there was no damage to any of the boats, because I know last time there was a lot of financial damage, so I’m glad nothing happened.”

Marian Olin, “oh we all, there was a little hoot in the office when they cancelled it at 4 in the morning. Then most of us went home and went to bed.”

Officials say the best thing you can do in the event of a tsunami is try to get above 100 ft of sea level or at least 2 miles inland.