_{Thumbnail photo: H Dock damage at the Crescent City Harbor from the July 30, 2025 Kamchatka tsunami. The harbor will host one of seven tsunami information kiosks throughout Del Norte. | Photo courtesy of Mike Rademaker}

Del Norte County is stepping up its tsunami preparedness efforts, focusing on visitors who may not be aware that they’re in a hazardous location or how to evacuate.

Seven kiosks will be installed in areas popular with visitors. They will highlight the natural warning signs that a tsunami is imminent, the immediate actions to take as well as a simplified evacuation map leading folks to a safer spot, Emergency Services Coordinator Jessica Seaman said Tuesday.

“Each evacuation map will be site specific and developed with assistance from the subject matter experts to ensure accuracy and clarity for the exact location,” she told the Board of Supervisors. “The kiosks will also include a QR code that links directly to Know Your Zone and Prepare Del Norte (which has) additional preparedness information.”

County supervisors unanimously approved an allocation of up to $2,000 to pay for permitting and installation costs for the kiosk. The California Office of Emergency Services, or CalOES, is providing the kiosk structures, graphic design and educational content, Seaman said.

The Del Norte County Office of Emergency Services is also working with Crescent City officials to get the kiosks up and running, she said.

“Ultimately, these kiosks will help build muscle memory,” Seaman said,” so when something does happen people already know what to do and where to go.”

The kiosks come ahead of the community’s annual Kamome Festival, a week-long event celebrating Crescent City’s Sister City relationship with Rikuzentakata Japan. That friendship grew after a small fishing vessel was deposited on South Beach two years after the March 2011 tsunami.

On Tuesday, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard noted that Seaman’s presentation about the kiosks come as the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors is seeking $25,000 from Sister Cities International to hold a tsunami preparedness summit for West Coast communities.

“I think there’s a lot to learn from what we’re doing here being the epicenter of tsunamis on the Pacific Coast,” Howard said of the kiosk project. 

According to Seaman’s presentation, the kiosks will be at Lighthouse Cove RV Park, the Crescent City Harbor, the Chart Room, the beach entrance on Howe Drive, the Battery Point Lighthouse parking lot and the Pebble Beach Drive parking lot.

Kiosks will also be at the mouth of the Smith River off South Indian Road and at the DeMartin Beach just north of Klamath.

District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey, who is working with Seaman on emergency preparedness activities for youth at the Kamome Festival in April, noted that the kiosks will also be beneficial for Del Norte County residents as well as visitors.

“Every time we have these threats, especially the ones that are real, people want to know the zone,” she said, praising the QR code link to the Know Your Zone website. “Even residents need a reminder of where it is.”