Personally, I gave to the Salvation Army.
The tsunami had little impact at my location which is 30 miles south of San Francisco. Coastal geograophy really affects the impact of a tsunami. One location could have little affect and another severe damage. (According to a letter I received from the county, I live in an evacuation zone. That is because the property includes a creek 1/4 mile inland, The bulk of the property including all buildings, is far above any danger zone.) Eight miles north there was a five foot variance at the harbor, but any wave action was absorbed by the breakwater. There was no damage to beaches, no surge of waters inland. Forty miles south, Santa Cruz harbor is closed due to damage, mostly because of sunken vessels causing a transportation hazard: 18 vessels capsized/sunk, estimated 100 vessels afloat but damaged. The environmentalists are worried about wildlife being affected by an oilsheen!
A coworker said her 20 year old son was in a panic because he believes the 2012 End of The World Scenario and he thought this is the first blow. Instead of staying calm and helping his mother during an evacuation order, he was begging her to drive away. He would have driven himself, but he recently injured himself while skateboarding. Useless kid. He should go to Japan and help them clean up, that will knock some sense into him. Anyway, here is a photo of one of the "tsunami events" near my house. This happened several times. Fortunately, it was also low tide.
Click on the photos for larger images.
The waters retreated about 200 feet further than normal.
And then the waters returned. Except for the exagerated length of the withdrawing water, it looks pretty normal for wintertime.
We are all very lucky on the West Coast. The only people killed were victims of Social Darwinism who went too close to the water to film the action.
