Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management and Dark Horse Comics team up to prepare for the Great Oregon ShakeOut on October 20 and introduce Without Warning: Tsunami, a new comic touting tsunami preparedness. The 16-page comic strip sequence chronicles a mother/daughter camping trip on the Oregon coast when an earthquake and resulting tsunami strike. The duo stays safe and helps others in danger.

Without Warning: Tsunami is the second time that the partners have come together to collaborate on bringing preparedness messaging to youth. In 2013, OEM’s Geologic Hazards Program Coordinator Althea Rizzo approached Dark Horse with a proposal. An avid comic book fan herself, Rizzo knew that it was a good way to reach a new target audience. In August 2014, Without Warning was released, telling a story of an Oregon teen who reunites with her family after a major Cascadia Earthquake.

Rizzo came up with both stories which were scripted and illustrated by Dark Horse team members Jeremy Barlow and David Hahn.

Oregon is located in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a 600-hundred mile earthquake fault stretching from offshore Northern California to Southern British Columbia.  According to scientists and other experts, a large 9.0 or higher earthquake could strike Oregon at any time.

Without Warning: Tsunami is available online. Printed copies can be obtained through local county emergency management offices.