Research Information System
Natural Hazards, vol.122, no.2, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Tsunami risk assessment is crucial for coastal communities, but quantitatively evaluating a nation’s tsunami vulnerability, and preparedness levels is challenging due to the intangible elements of this aspect. This study offers a novel proxy measurement method for assessing the tsunami preparedness of the nations through a reference country approach. The reference country is chosen as Japan according to the rationales based on its exemplary preparedness strategies against tsunamis and results of global-level analysis performed on the historical tsunami events and their outcomes. A proxy index, representing tsunami awareness and preparedness is developed using 39 indicators gathered from global statistical datasets grouped into administrative, educational, and socio-economic domains. The indicators are normalized, and principal component analysis is applied to remove multicollinearity. The Euclidean distance between 52 tsunami-prone country and Japan is calculated to determine their similarity yielding a value scaled from 1 to 10 for each country. This proxy index calculation provides valuable insights on the importance of robust governance, strong public education, and resilient economic systems for effective disaster management and offers a practical measurement method to approach relatively intangible aspects such as human vulnerability, awareness and preparedness for any kind of natural hazards including tsunamis.