This earthquake is a good example of how geologists can save lives, but did not in this case. There must have been quakes like this on the same part of the same subduction zone in the past...probably prehistoric. Such a quake would have also caused tsunamis. These tsunamis would, in certain areas, have left a record. Geologist could have (maybe they did) recognize these deposits, and realized that there was a risk. But, even without this, the Krakatau volcanic explosion caused local large tsunamis that killed, I think, over 30,000 people in the 1880s (1883?). It is remarkable that there is no Indian Ocean tsunami warning system. And, that people living on coastlines were never told what to do if they saw the sea retreating, or felt ground shaking that lasted for minutes. So, do American earth scientists have some responsibility to help with this? Am I personally going to do anything? I think that these posts, an email to CNN, and an email to SCEC is about as far as I will take it. I guess I have a responsibility to publish my research, and I need to submit a paper that I have been working on since April or earlier, in the next week or so. Because some of the structures I an familiar offshore and coastal southern California are not small, and I would not completely rule out an earthquake at the low end of "Great".....although these must be very rare.
Chris