Tsunami

Last nights news showed the devastation caused by an  9.0  earthquake, the  first of many to hit in one area off the coast of Northern Japan.   Within ten minutes a Tsunami was generated from this devastating earthquake, and sent it's  fierce  waves surging onto the Japan shorelines, which  caused buildings to collapse,  power plants to catch on fire, cars were swallowed up and carried off, and everything in it's path was swept up by the ocean.  Many people are still missing, and it will  take a long time to repair all the damage that has happened.  As we watched our local news channels,  we heard the Hawaiian Islands also had a Tsunami watch and it would reach our shores around 3:00 a.m.  No one ever knows how big these waves are going to get,  by the time the ripples are generated out at sea, and  travel across the ocean to reach our shores, they can be packed with such a force that devastates everything as the ocean waters come on shore.

Last year we also had a Tsunami warning, from the huge Chili earthquake, and as we watched the news, they broadcast the changes in the surf for several hours during  the warning period.   Thank goodness all the Hawaiian Islands were safe, and no waves were generated, only had a slight rise and fall in the tide that we could see.

This year was a lot different because it was going to take place in the dark when it came on  shore.   A lot of people rushed out to the market here, and the drinking water was sold off the shelves within minutes.  People hit the gas stations and filled up their tanks as they waited in huge lines.   I went to bed.  My husband said, "aren't you going up to the store and to the gas station"?  I said,  Nope, going to bed now.   I get up every morning at 4:00a.m, and I have no energy  after 10:00 p.m.  What can I say, I would be the first to parish if a real disaster ever hit.  We live very high up on the side of Haleakala Crater, and the waves would never reach us.  Everyone heads for higher ground, and they drove up here, and filled our shopping center's parking lot overnight, sleeping in their cars with their pillows, as they waited.   I just hope the crater remains asleep for another hundred years, and when the hurricane season hits, our Island is missed again. 

I still showered and dressed to go  to work, but just as I was leaving the news showed all the road closures, and it said the water was shut off (not here), so I called work and no one answered.  I stayed home until 10:30 and then went down when our island was downgraded to a Category 3, and the roads reopened. 

Most of the devastation happened on the Big Island, off the Kona coastline, where most of  the boat harbors are.  As the oceans surged,  many boats broke loose of their moorings,  and they were swept out to sea, but then the surge brought them in again, and they were hitting all the boats still tied to the docks.  Beautiful large boats, and some had people sleeping in them.  People were standing on the docks yelling at the  boat owners to wake up and get off their boats.  One couple ran off  their boat,  and jumped onto the dock just as their boat  was being smashed by another one.

This is my third Tsunami warning that  I've experienced since 1979 after moving to Hawaii.  I have only seen the black and white photo's of the worse waves  that ever came ashore with such force. I think it happened in 1946, and another hit in 1960, and that one  killed 64 people in Hilo.   The biggest waves I've seen are on our North Shore, at a place called Jaws.  Only the elite surfers go out, and they are pulled up on to the wave by a jet ski.  The face of these waves are twenty plus feet.  Can you imagine what a Tsunami  wave looks like, as it continues with it's huge wall for miles before coming on shore with all it's  power?   I hope I never see one that size, ever!    Thanks Sherri for checking in on me.  Our beautiful island is still intact!