Developing tsunami-resilient communities
Tsunamis remain an ever-present threat to lives and property along the coasts of most of the world’s ocean. Because of the geographical extent of U.S. coastlines, an earthquake in Alaska can generate a local tsunami for Alaskans and, hours later, a distant tsunami for Hawaii and the west coast populations. This volume chronicles the development and accomplishments of a State/Federal partnership created to reduce tsunami hazards along U.S. coastlines - the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program. By integrating hazard assessment, warning guidance, and mitigation activities, the program has created a roadmap and a set of tools to develop communities resilient to local and distant tsunamis. Among the set of tools are tsunami forecasting, educational experiments, early alerting systems, and design guidance for tsunami-resilient communities.