The tragic events in Japan have answered a question I have had since I went camping at the spectacular Montana del Oro state park south of Morro Bay on the Central California coast in 2007.

The one jarring note in the idyllic beach and tidepool scene was a tower with a siren on it. Was that to warn about a tsunami or a meltdown at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant a few miles to the south? Or both?

Say you were woken up in your tent in the dark by an earthquake and the siren going off. What's your number one priority? Getting as high up the hill as fast as possible or getting as far north away from the nuclear power plant as possible along a road that frequently dips to sea level?

Well, now I know. Tsunamis can happen faster than meltdowns.