Community understanding of tsunami risk and warnings in Australia

This paper provides detailed interview data to inform understanding of respondents’ awareness of tsunami risk and their willingness (or lack of) to respond to a rare but possible natural hazard. A belief that no tsunami events had occurred in Australia (at least since colonial times) and that major causes (e.g. seismic and volcanic) were absent, supported the view of participants that tsunami is a non-existent or a very low probability hazard for Australia.

This view was reinforced by the government or in the media. The ensuing sense of ‘risk rejection’ resulted in respondents believing that no resources or effort should be directed to tsunami risk reduction. The data raises the possibility that the ATWS may not be fully effective unless action is taken to increase tsunami risk acceptance and readiness.

Recommendations for doing so draw on participant discussions of how to localise risk reduction activities. Suggestions for increasing tsunami readiness in coastal communities include integration with community-based, localised discussions around frequent flash floods, coastal storms, bushfires and climate change hazards.

Australian Journal of Emergency Management, Volume 32, No. 1, January 2017. Article shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).