^ I do think there's hope - the government could build a load-bearing wall in the same way a dam is built to take the full force of a tsunami along the populated coastal areas. It won't look pretty, and it will cost a lot of money, but it will save lives and property long term. I hope they consider it in NZ and Japan and other places vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis, because there will always be the risk of another one. Always.
Quake-proofing a house - how does one do that? Does it have to be reinforced to cope with sideways vibration, or else maybe just that people should not add too many storeys onto their homes? I remember a TV program about how in Japan they build tall buildings that can twist when an earthquake happens and avoid generating a certain frequency of vibration and not shake themselves apart. But that must be some complex technology that has to be built-in from the start...