Tsunami inundation zone maps were created to show which areas on the Central Coast could be hit by a major tsunami.
The maps were drawn by the California Geological Survey, California Emergency Management Agency, and Tsunami Research Center at the University of Southern California.
A local quake off the coast of California or Oregon could generate a tsunami that reaches the Central Coast in just minutes. A tsunami caused by a large earthquake elsewhere on the Pacific Rim would take several hours to reach California's coast.
Do you live or work in an inundation zone? Find out with the detailed maps below.
Experts say the best way to be prepared for a tsunami is to know how high you are above sea level and have a plan.
"Most areas around here if you are more than twenty feet above sea level, you're out of the danger zone," NWS warning coordination meteorologist Logan Johnson said.
This week is Tsunami Preparedness Week. Warning coordination meteorologists with the U.S. National Weather Service in Monterey said the annual week is about making people who live on the coast "tsunami ready" by "encouraging tsunami preparedness, learning about tsunamis, the warning process, and understanding your personal risk from tsunamis and preparing your community."
A tsunami is a series of sea waves generated by an earthquake, landslide, volcanic eruption, or even a meteor hitting the ocean. According to NOAA, low and fast waves are generated in all directions across the ocean, some speeding as fast as 600 mph. Waves rise in height as the ocean floor becomes shallower.
The most recent tsunami in California happened in 2011, when the Santa Cruz harbor was damaged by a wave the traveled all the way across the Pacific Ocean from an earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The wave that rolled through Santa Cruz tossed boats around like toy in a bathtub.
In 1960, a magnitude 9.5 earthquake in Chile resulted in a 5.2-foot wave that reached Santa Monica 14 hours later.