Tuesday evening, we were notified of a tsunami advisory in place for the entire West Coast. A small surge of waves and currents reached our coastline in the wee hours Wednesday morning, but did not cause any damage.

A tsunami advisory has happened before, but it’s not common. Here are some things to know about tsunami notices:

• The National Weather Service has criteria for when and how to issue alerts about tsunamis (information, watch, advisory and warning: here’s what those mean).
• This map from Alert San Diego shows how and where Carlsbad could be affected by a tsunami – it’s mostly around our coastline and lagoons
• You’ll see on the map that a rule of thumb is to move away from the coast and waterways and get to higher ground when under an advisory or warning.

The City of Carlsbad prepares for all kinds of emergencies and has several ways to notify residents:

• Reverse 911 calls to affected areas (landlines are automatically part of the system, but you have to add your mobile devices and email addresses. Please do that now if you haven’t already)
• Visit the Genasys Protect website or download the Genasys Protect app to find your zone and subscribe to alerts. You can also sign up to be notified about incidents affecting zones where family members live, where you work and other locations.

Please visit the city’s Emergency Preparedness webpage for tips on how to create a disaster plan and an appropriate emergency kit.