Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Federal Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) guidelines do not currently exist for conducting and incorporating tsunami hazard assessments that reflect the substantial advances in tsunami research achieved in the last two decades (Tsunami Pilot Study Working Group, 2006). Therefore, as part of the FEMA Modernization Program, a Tsunami Pilot Study was carried out in the Seaside/Gearhart, Oregon, area to provide information from which tsunami mapping guidelines could be developed. This area was chosen because it is typical of coastal communities in the section of the Pacific Coast from Cape Mendocino to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. There was also considerable interest shown by state agencies and local stakeholders in mapping the tsunami threat to this region. The study was an interagency effort by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Southern California, and the Middle East Technical University. We present the GIS data from that report in this publication.
These data are intended for science researchers, students, policy makers, and the general public. The data can be used with geographic information systems (GIS) software to display geologic and oceanographic information.
The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of these data on any other system.
Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Additional polyline shapefiles were created by digitizing the apparent Mean High Water and Mean Lower Low Water lines from photography projects for the years closest to historic tsunami events (1946, 1960, 1964).