Australia is surrounded to the north and east by some 8000 kilometres of active tectonic plate boundaries capable of generating tsunami that would reach Australia within two to four hours. Other plate boundaries across the Pacific basin, such as the South American subduction zone, can also
generate tsunamis that would reach Australia in 14 to 18 hours.
Australia has a predominantly coastal population, with 87% of people living within 50 kilometres of the coast. This equates to more than 22 million Australians and means that a significant proportion of the population is exposed to tsunami risk. The exposed population can also swell during peak holiday periods, due to large numbers of domestic and international tourists spending leisure time at the beach.
Understanding tsunami risk in Australia helps emergency managers and at-risk communities to prepare more effectively for a tsunami. Australia has not experienced a catastrophic tsunami disaster on the scale of either the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami or the 2011 Japan Tohoku earthquake in recent history. However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander oral history, storylines and geological evidence, indicate that larger tsunamis and significant inundation events have occurred in Australia in the past.