My thoughts go out to the people of Japan who’ve suffered a horrible tragedy when an 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck, followed by a 33ft tsunami. Living in a seismically-active coastal area I’ve often run through my head the action plan if a tsunami hits. Really it’s an exercise in futility, as any plan would stick its head in the sand while instinct took over. I’ve often sat on the beach here, looking at the beautiful ocean, wondering where I would go if I saw the water suddenly pull back a hundred feet, the great inhale before a massive wave. Or perhaps the water would just rush up, no time to think, to move. Footage of the water washing ashore is astonishing for its speed and height—a juggernaut from which escape could only happen vertically.
Do you live in a low area? Ever ridden out an earthquake? For those of us on the Ring of Fire, the double-whammy of earthquake and tsunami is something that comes with no warning. How would you prepare? What do you think you would do, and what might you actually do?
Writer, architect, father, husband.
I’m glad you sort of live on a hill. You do, don’t you?! Horrifying what has happened in Japan. It is totally beyond my realm of comprehension to understand how you would survive that, much less how you could continue on if you did.