The major concern was the loss of telecommunications services in San Diego. Before too long, everyone was assembled on a conference call to review the firm's disaster recovery plan.

During the 30-minute call, the apps and services were reviewed and the status of backup and replications all verified. Other steps included analysis of the environment on the East Coast to ensure that there would be enough space available to bring critical applications hosted on the West Coast live from the East Coast data center. In some cases, it would involve a restore of applications from backups, Everett said.

The real question was when the tsunami would hit, and what event would trigger DLA Piper's switch to the East Coast data center. Making the transition would involve some short interruptions in application access, but not in providing data access. Everett said they could still get critical data to the attorneys.

The triggering event for a switch-over might have been either the loss of connectivity, "or watching huge waves roll into San Diego on the news," she said. But neither happened, and as hours passed, so did the threat.

Japan provides something of a preview of what the West Coast may see one day.