They have a central telephone contact point — a Mainland friend — in case they're separated in the devastation of a hurricane or tsunami. Each family member has an emergency calling card in case cellular phones are lost or out of service and they can get to a regular phone.

All their important papers are in a single folder so they're easy to gather up and take along, and copies are in a safe deposit box.

"I probably overthink it, but I'd rather be prepared if it hits the fan," Kaya said.

That's precisely the kind of planning that disaster mitigation experts say will help communities survive natural disasters like the tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean Dec. 26.

George Atta, community planner for Group 70, says being higher than four stories, such as the Macy's across from him, should protect those in urban Honolulu if water from a tsunami were to enter the city. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Atta is a planner and disaster mitigation specialist with the planning, architectural and design firm Group 70 International. He has consulted on disaster planning, recently updated Honolulu's disaster plan, and has written a disaster mitigation plan for the Northern Mariana Islands that is approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"This (Indian Ocean tsunami) is probably going to be the signature disaster of our lifetime. One thing that has become clear, that this disaster makes clear, is that disasters of this scope are multidimensional. Police and medical workers are wiped out, supplies are limited, there are disease problems, water sources are contaminated, communications and transportation are disrupted.

"We're definitely in a better position than some of these remote fishing villages, but we should understand that even here, larger centers will get attention first. Small communities and families should plan to be self-sufficient for at least a couple of days and perhaps longer," Atta said.

Every household should have a supply of nonperishable food that will last the family at least several days, along with prescription medicines, a first-aid kit, pet food, and other items listed under survival kits in the disaster preparedness pages of any phone book. Sufficient safe water is critical.

"After a disaster, fresh water is probably the most important commodity," Atta said.

"Relief efforts are going to go to a major airport, which is next to a major city. The farther people are from main airports and distribution centers, the longer it will take logistically to get to them. Our county Civil Defense agencies do encourage self-reliance for isolated communities," said Brian Yanagi, state Civil Defense tsunami program coordinator.

"Do not wait around and expect government to be able to assist you quickly," he said.

Atta said a resilient community requires organization. For example, in the old days, a traditional Hawaiian kapu system might have designated one stream for washing and bathing, protecting another as a source of drinking water.

"There is less community cohesion now than there was years ago," Atta said. "The most important thing after a disaster is the political and social organization of the survivors. There needs to be some mechanism for a community to self-organize."

Yanagi said community associations or condominium associations should be discussing these issues and involving the entire community, so that there is a widely accepted system already established before a disaster. One discussion some folks should have is whether it's best to evacuate or stay.

Engineer Steven Baldridge of Baldridge and Associates Structural Engineering said that many reinforced concrete high-rises may be able to withstand tsunami waters, so that "vertical evacuation" to the upper floors may be a better option than joining in traffic jams. Atta agreed.

"If everybody jumps into a car and ends up in gridlock, then all those cars will get washed away," Atta said.

Baldridge, who has done emergency planning with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said buildings designed with tsunami and hurricane storm surge in mind may have been built with breakaway walls on the lower floors "so that the load pushes through the building and doesn't take the building with it."

"If an earthquake is from Chile, we've got plenty of time, but if it's from Kona, we only have 20 or 30 minutes. There is a definite realization that in some areas, we don't have time to evacuate," Baldridge said.

He said residents of coastal multistory concrete buildings should ask questions, however, before making assumptions that it's safe to stay in a building.

"You don't want to just hope that because it's concrete, it's going to survive," he said.