my coastal buddy chimes in again:

How am I going to survive it with family in the Coos Bay area? My house is as 40 ft above sea level. The newly updated inundation zone maps have the tsunami lapping at my front door. We have a pantry and water stores. I imagine that all houses will be knocked off of their foundations and utility lines will be broken. power lines will come off their poles. Street pavements will be busted up. Bridges down. If the house survives the earthquake/tsunami, and doesn't burn down in the fires that break out afterward, it will be crooked and breezy, but it will provide basic shelter from the elements.It would be condemned if there were building inspectors around to enforce that. Everything inside will be thrown around and busted up. fridge tipped over. Contents of fridge and cupboards broken and spilled on the floor. broken glass and crockery everywhere. floors covered ankle deep in crap.

We will tend to the injured. Check on the neighbors. Get organized. Inventory food and plan to use fridge food first, freezer food second, and dry/canned goods last. Clean up the best we can. Toilets/sewer lines not working, so dig a latrine in the back yard. Set up a makeshift kitchen in the back yard. Set up basic sanitation practice.

Our children go to school 5 miles away across the bay. if it happens during the week, bridge out, the parents will figure out a way to get boats across the bay to retrieve kids. After a week of improvising, a new routine will emerge. There are a lot of elderly folks living alone in houses. Maybe we'll figure some way of getting younger, displaced people and families to move in temporarily with older homeowners. The guests can help out with chores and getting potable water and fuel for cook fires, the older home owners provide shelter. Some kind of social synergy will occur.

After we get basic needs taken care of, we may find time to organize to clear roads, repair port facilities, organize shelters at public buildings for red cross and large institutions to run.