NOT A TSUNAMI

Unless you think of time as a "Big Wave".

I've been bothered by the videos and images of the coastal towns in Japan as the tsunami hit.

I have built some houses and worked on boats so watching an ocean going vessel surging down a street crushing buildings has added to my normally trivial nightmares:

Would any structure I have worked on withstand?

No.

Can we actually build structures to survive such events?

That would depend on the relative strength of the event.

It does not hurt to try to earthquake proof buildings nor to consider and implement safe siting of any new developement and while you are at it keep your boat well off shore during a large earthquake.

Let's face it:

Some of us will be caught with our "pants down".

Most "Disaster Preparedness" advice tells us to have a bit of food and water somewhere and a "plan".

In the days of Cold War Nuclear Threat the advice was: "Duck and Cover" which has now been modified: you should no longer crawl under your desk but hunker down beside it because that is where survivors are found - near but not under a sturdy peice of furniture.  

And "running outside" can also increase risks. I would likely still "run about" if there was time for that.

Sensible "preparedness" might still include ducking and storing water and food.

One consistant affect of disaster is: loss of information. You can survive quite a while without food and in our locale most of the year there would be water within walking distance. But not knowing if the people you care about are ok  and not being able to inform them of your own situation would be difficult for most of us who are used to instant access.

One possibly useful adition to your "Grab Bag" might be a hand held two way radio (cell phones and wi-fi communications immediately overload even if infrastructure survives).

Part of everyone's "plan" should be a common meeting point.

I'm going to the car park by the highway in Cassidy: Nanaimo River right next door and hopefully the pub and beer and wine will stay open (note to self: bring cash. Credit and Debit cards will still be good for scraping your windshield).

Ken LeDuc