Thousands of people living along the U.S. Pacific coastline from Northern California to Washington state could survive powerful tsunami, as long as they are prepared to walk briskly to higher ground, a researcher said on Tuesday.

About 95,000 people live on a 620-mile (1,000-km) stretch of the Pacific Northwest coast, which is considered vulnerable to tsunami triggered by an earthquake offshore, scientists said.

A research team assessing the risk to that population found that in many areas, people can be ready to move out of danger in the minutes between the earthquake and the tsunami by simply walking, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.