Early warning
If you want to see how much warning you would have got between the p- and s- waves in Tokyo, 376 kms from the epicentre of the 8.9 quake in March, look here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU1bYspMyQw
It's not much, but it might save your life.
As with everything in earthquakes, the further you are from the epicentre the better, on the whole.