Dogan wrote:quazi wrote:I wonder what preparations people living in the inundation zone with no chance of escape could make (other than "just move")?
Ham radio to say your last words after phones are jammed with panicked people. Only partly joking.
I live west of the 5, a good portion of my family is on the coast, in areas where (served by narrow 2 lane highways with bridges aplenty) evacuation to evac sites is possible, but escape from A Big One is impossible. They're all getting little "Do not open until Quakesmas!" kits, waterproof boxes with a HAM, batts, etc. The facts sheet I print will literally say "Merry Quakesmas! Don't panic, ...". Because after the quake, there will be about 15 minutes before the wave hits, and phones will go down (if not during due to damage to infrastructure) then at most 45-60s after the quake due to massive traffic. 14 minutes is more than enough time to scan the sheet, insert the batts, power up and have a nice tearful "I love you mom/dad/brother/sister" type conversation.
Personally, my SO and I plan to outfit our apartment with a family sized load of food and medical supplies over the next few years, our BOV situation will be restructured in the next year or so, lay out plans for fortifying our BOL after the quake, as well as get our first aid certs and read up on medical care. Oh and go over the tons of auxiliary stuff that isn't sexy.
Update: Upon further thought (and thinking about the various scenarios that might be in play when TRB1 hits), there actually is a bit of hope for my family on the coast.
We all ride dirt bikes. Mostly old XR600's which my dad knows intimately and has a large stock of spare parts (read: Entire carburetors and engines) for.
Me, my brother and my father all know the logging roads intimately (which start legitimately 5 minutes away from one house), and which reach from the end of my old homestead's road deep into the Elliot Forest and all the way north to Highway 38, East to the I-5, and south to god knows where, probably California. The best situation I can think of is to have my whole family at the homestead when the quake hits. Shaking stops, if the house and all the people survive, everyone bails. Grab a gun, some food, some water, a HAM, get on a bike and ride hard and fast East on the logging roads (which are mostly gated but we have access from one of the owners) for an hour or so, then stop, go to ground, and wait it out.
Perfect? Hell no. But it would give everyone in that part of the family the best chance for survival, as all the ridges, valleys would act as baffles in the face of the tsunami. Go far enough, fast enough, they might make it. My family in Seattle and San Francisco will probably not be so lucky.
Worst case, family is at work in various concrete block buildings right on the coast and possibly a nuclear plant depending on who has the contract at that time. Not kidding at all.