I would imagine they'd survive the same way they did before the terrible bombardments from the airships.

Anyways, keep in mind that Edward and Anna - both very much non-combatants at the time - managed to travel from Kaipo to Damcyan despite the monster in the underground waterway. Plus I'm sure the kingdom would've had more than one hovercraft.

(You'll have to excuse me: I'm automatically programmed to attack anything that insults Edward/Gilbert/whatever you wanna call him. Look, I don't call Robotnik Eggman :P )