Scientific investigations report 2012–5222:
This report addresses the lack of comprehensive documentation of the populations and businesses of the California coast's maximum tsunami-inundation zone. To support tsunami preparedness and risk-reduction planning in California, it documents the variations among coastal communities in the amounts, types, and percentages of developed land, human populations, and businesses in the maximum tsunami-inundation zone. It is intended to support preparedness and education efforts and to serve as a foundation for additional risk-related studies and to help community members and local, State, and Federal policymakers in their efforts to develop and prioritize preparedness and risk-reduction strategies that are tailored to local needs.
The document highlights that preparedness efforts have focused on educating at-risk individuals about potential tsunami threats through such means as educational materials, hazard signs, evacuation planning, training and exercises for emergency managers, tests of the warning system, and focused outreach campaigns, as well as Federal tsunami-warning centers and a network of deep-ocean detection stations. But it also emphasizes the low level of communication to communities about their specific vulnerability to these hazards and how this vulnerability can vary within communities due to pre-existing societal conditions.