Hawaiʻi tsunami evacuation zone GIS data
Hawaiʻi's official tsunami evacuation zones are free to view and download as GIS data. The counties draw the zones; the Hawaiʻi Statewide GIS Program merges them into one statewide layer.
Safety first: this page is about the data. To check an address before or during an emergency, use the official viewers below and follow your county emergency agency. Hawaiʻi EMA says the evacuation zone is a guideline and should be treated as the minimum safe evacuation distance, and that the maps do not account for a locally generated tsunami: if you feel shaking, move inland right away.
Two kinds of zones
- Tsunami Evacuation Zone (red): Hawaiʻi EMA says these must be evacuated during any tsunami warning. Honolulu DEM calls it the Primary Tsunami Evacuation Zone (TEZ) and says it is based on historical tsunami impacts over the past 100 years.
- Extreme Tsunami Evacuation Zone (yellow): evacuated only for an extreme tsunami, which Hawaiʻi EMA links to a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Alaska and describes as unlikely but plausible. Honolulu DEM calls it the XTEZ.
The State GIS layers also include Tsunami Safe Zones. Its metadata says that where a county had not made a safe-zone layer, the State GIS Program created one from that county's tsunami zones.
Statewide GIS layers (Hawaiʻi Statewide GIS Program)
| Layer | Notes | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Tsunami Evacuation – All Zones | Tsunami, Extreme Tsunami and Safe Zones in one polygon layer. Key field: zone_type; also island, evac_zone, mapname. | Open data (shapefile, GeoJSON, KML, CSV, WMS/WFS) · REST layer 11 |
| Tsunami Evacuation Zones | Standard (red) zones only. | Open data · REST layer 2 |
| Extreme Tsunami Evacuation Zones | Extreme (yellow) zones only. | REST layer 12 |
| Tsunami Safe Zones | REST layer 13 |
Where each island's zones come from (per the State metadata):
- Hawaiʻi Island: County of Hawaiʻi, March 2025. The County sent corrections in November 2025; the State applied and published them on Nov 20, 2025.
- Oʻahu: City and County of Honolulu, April 2025 (downloaded from Honolulu's open geospatial site). Honolulu's own metadata says the boundaries are based on peer review of UH inundation models and first-responder needs, updated 2015.
- Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi: County of Maui / Pacific Disaster Center, 2013.
- Kauaʻi: County of Kauaʻi, 2025. Niʻihau: shapefile from NOAA, October 2016.
The State layer is in UTM Zone 4, NAD 83 HARN. The metadata notes that map number and map name fields are empty for Niʻihau, Kauaʻi and Oʻahu.
Viewers and county sources
- Statewide: Hawaiʻi EMA tsunami evacuation zones (downloadable maps) · Tsunami Aware, a NOAA Office for Coastal Management and Hawaiʻi EMA viewer covering Hawaiʻi and Guam.
- Oʻahu: Oʻahu Hazard Explorer (Honolulu DEM): enter an address to see tsunami zones plus flood, dam/levee and wildfire layers. Background: Honolulu DEM tsunami page.
- Hawaiʻi Island: Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense tsunami page with an interactive evacuation zone map.
- All counties: NWS International Tsunami Information Center's Hawaiʻi Tsunami Evacuation Zone Maps page links each county's maps.
Related data on HawaiiGIS
- Floodplain data: FEMA flood zones are a separate hazard map and not a tsunami evacuation zone.
- Sea level rise (the State SLR exposure layer excludes tsunami)
- LiDAR & elevation
- Hawaiʻi Statewide GIS Program
These layers are for planning and awareness. In a real warning, follow official instructions from your county emergency management agency.
Sources
- https://dod.hawaii.gov/hiema/tsunami-evacuation-zones/ — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://dod.hawaii.gov/hiema/tsunami/ — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://opendata.hawaii.gov/dataset/tsunami-evacuation-all-zones — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://opendata.hawaii.gov/dataset/tsunami-evacuation-zones1 — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://geodata.hawaii.gov/arcgis/rest/services/Hazards/MapServer/11 — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://geodata.hawaii.gov/arcgis/rest/services/Hazards/MapServer/2 — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://geodata.hawaii.gov/arcgis/rest/services/Hazards/MapServer/12 — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://geodata.hawaii.gov/arcgis/rest/services/Hazards/MapServer/13 — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/op/gis/data/tsunevac.pdf — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://www.honolulu.gov/dem/tsunami/ — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://www.honolulu.gov/dem/oahu-hazard-explorer/ — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://tsunami.coast.noaa.gov/ — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://www.coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/tsunamimap.html — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://hawaii-county-civil-defense-agency-hawaiicountygis.hub.arcgis.com/pages/tsunami — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)
- https://www.weather.gov/itic-car/hawaii_tsunami_evacuation_zone_maps — checked Oct 26, 2026 (HST)