They might do fine. Living in a tough city requires coping and planning skills that most people don’t have.
I work in Houston but live just outside the city. If stuff starts while I’m at work my number one priority is to get out of the city. Once I get home we’ll see how things are developing and plans are in place to put distance between us and the city.
I don’t like Houston at all. Big cities in general are just chaos in the making.