Designing for tsunamis: seven principles for planning and designing for tsunami hazards

The purpose of these guidelines is to help coastal communities in the five Pacific states-Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington-understand their tsunami hazards, exposure, and vulnerability, and to mitigate the resulting risk through land use planning, site planning, and building design. Emergency response and evacuation are addressed extensively in other publications and are only discussed in these guidelines as they relate to land use, siting, and building design and construction issues (see the references at the end of the guidelines concerning emergency response and evacuation planning for tsunamis). These guidelines are intended for use by local elected, appointed, and administrative officials involved in planning, zoning, building regulation, community redevelopment, and related land use and development functions in coastal communities. The guidelines should also be helpful to state officials having similar responsibilities.