As I read the doc, that wouldn't explain it--regardless of you much you might wish it so.
Plenty lived in lowland areas. They just left them days before even the quake.
Only in recent times with modern engineering did we build and live in areas that would flood in any storm or high water. The ocean is a stormy place, and without modern structures, they'd be more vulnerable to weather unless they built just on the other side of the historical dunes and high water areas.
Or maybe they can tell, I don't know. I don't wish anything so, I just wonder.