# Panic in Paradise?



## firetender (Feb 27, 2010)

I live on the island of Maui, Hawaii. The state is the most isolated location on the planet, at least 2,300 miles from the nearest land mass (San Francisco). The island consists of two volcanoes connected by an alluvial flood plain. I live "upcountry", on the slopes of Haleakala, the larger of the two volcanoes.

I'll guess around 100,000 live along the coast. The largest population lives around Kahului, a harbor. This morning, at 5:30 a.m. I was going down the four-lane highway to work in Kahului and I see car lights coming UP the volcano, as if it were rush hour. I went on to work to find about 10 cars at every pump of every gas station in town. At work I was told I wouldn't be working today. I drive the road to Hana (I'm a tour guide, not a medic). There was a tsunami warning.

I probably should have filled up while I was in town because by the time I got to Pukalani, the closest town above the lowlands on Haleakala, traffic was bumper to bumper and 20 to 30 deep cars on line for gas. I knew what I needed to do.

I took every back road I knew to my place, got things a little organized, It took me a half hour to travel a mile. I filled a barrel with water. So I think I'll spend some time writing here, snug at home, listening to the radio while I witness my fellow islanders freak out. 

Now, a guy on the radio called in to ask, "Does this mean they won't be delivering Pizzas?" The D.J. answered, "I think it depends. Upcountry is probably okay."

There is a major run on all the stores on the island. There are roads being closed. They are asking us to not use water because they are going to have to disable the water treatment plants; expecting electrical damage. There's a guy selling hot dogs off a stand in Pukalani getting rich. And the Police are gathering in Kihei (south shore loaded with condos and hotels on the shore), getting ready for evacuation. All the boats in Maaleaea Bay (a marina) have pulled out of the harbor to sea at at least a recommended depth of 600 fathoms.

The report is of a 8.5 earthquake that occurred in Chile early this a.m. We're anticipating being "hit" about 11:20 a.m. There was a report of an earthquake originating in Japan, as well. The tsunami sirens have been going off periodically island wide. Gas stations are running out of gas. So far, the biggest waves reported have been six feet, at Tahiti, about 2,700 miles south. A Chileno called in. His family lives in Santiago and they report few deaths, much building damage though.

Tsunamis are a series of waves and you really don't know. I'm not hearing any official break-ins to local radio programming, but I'll cruise a little

The thing is, no evacuation orders have been issued and everybody on their own are flooding Upcountry. I noted no tension a couple hours ago, but now hear of gridlock up in Makawao (my town) and Pukalani. This is pretty fascinating!

I'd love to hear from someone in Honolulu. Betcha a buck it's a freak show!

I just heard that there is only ONE TSUNAMI MEASURING BUOY BETWEEN US AND SOUTH AMERICA. Most vulnerable areas Hilo, Big Island (Hawaii) Kahului here on Maui.


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## mycrofft (Feb 27, 2010)

*Well, good luck. You could sublet your front yard?*

I'm only eighty feet over sea level but one hundred and thirty miles inland on a river delta. Northern Calif has a great tsunami warning area thanks to triple plates off Crescent City.


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## firetender (Feb 27, 2010)

*t - 45 minutes*

On Hawaii Public Radio, now, estimate of 1 to 3 meter tsunami, Kahului expected to be biggest hit, due to its harbor (tsunami means "harbor wave")

Visitors (tourists) in Honolulu are being asked to NOT use phone or internet. Already they're having trouble with emergency communications there, though the Honolulu PD has not requested additional staffing, though reserves, etc. are on alert.

Things have somewhat evened out here, Upcountry. A lot of people are spreading out and finding positions with a great view of the isthmus. It's more like a tail-gate party...gotta love Maui. Hotels and condos on shore are being evacuated "vertically", that means up to the 4th floor.

Now, looking at what the generally available directions are there's one page of text and nine pages of maps in the phone book. They only show the evacuation zones (nicely identified, but not a word of where to go, how to get there.)  Oh...there's this "To avoid traffic gridlock, you may want to walk out of the evacuation zone and then wait for further instructions."

What I don't hear is county alert messages giving specific instructions. Now, there's a warning to Oahu, they're now ordering evacuation of coastal zones. All emergency personnel are now being ordered out of the evac areas.

I'm going back to poker for a bit.


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## firetender (Feb 27, 2010)

Interesting: two hours ago they ceased bus service throughout Maui. Nobody knows who's carless or disabled and not able to get to higher ground. There is neither a notification or evacuation plan for the poor, homeless and disabled.

Not a ripple in Hilo ETA has passed.


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## Ocean711 (Feb 27, 2010)

Good luck, stay safe and let us know how you are.


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## firetender (Feb 27, 2010)

*A terrifying thought*

Most of Maui's rent-a-cars are in the inundation zone! Water has begun receeding on Hilo. (Could be 1 to 6 hr. variance on actual hit time.)


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## enjoynz (Feb 27, 2010)

New Zealand's East Coast is expecting up to 1 metre high waves as well.
Civil Defence (Our Government Emergency Service) have issued Tsunami warnings for the length of the Country...and the harbour ports have closed and sent the larger ships out to open water.
(I have heard news reports that Hawaii has also sent their ships to open water.)

Thought's and prayers for the people of Chile!

Enjoynz


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## firetender (Feb 27, 2010)

cool streaming video of tsunami wave #4 coming in now
http://mashable.com/2010/02/27/hawaii-tsunami-warning/

So there were 4 waves...more like surges, and nobody really knows what's going on, all the experts have been surprised by what has happened. Only 4.5 ft in Kahului. no damage. Boats coming back in, but nobody knows nothing.


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## JPINFV (Feb 27, 2010)

Pictures of the damage?


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## enjoynz (Feb 27, 2010)

JP, I find that post, not the least bit funny.
Given what happened in the Boxing Day Tsunami at Bali and the fact that Chile has had one of the largest known recorded earthquake's,
hit their country.
I thought you may have a little more empathy, given that this situation could well have been in your Country and State. 

Enjoynz


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## firetender (Feb 27, 2010)

JPINFV said:


> Pictures of the damage?



SMPL!

Sheet My Pants Laughing

...and here I'm listening to Honolulu TV congratulating themselves and everyone else and all the government and all the systems for things having been handled so well! Traffic is moving again, and the "All Clear!" has not been called yet. 

Here on Maui, it was just a hint of the free-for all that would occur if we really got hit. You see, all the Big Box stores are on the lowlands (most commerce as well), along with most of the population. Many are in inundation areas. But that hardly matters because here on Hawaii 85% of the food we eat comes from the mainland. ALL the stores have gone to ordering foodstuffs on an "as needed" basis, usually with only about two weeks reserve. We have no long-term foodstuff storage facilities.

Everybody down there, of course, would come up here. We have one cowboy town (negligible facilities), Makawao, and a predominantly residential district called Kula. Pukalani is the only town with a shopping center, a Long's Drug and another Mom and Pop food store. There's a former Sanitarium here called Kula Hospital, with miniscule services.

I didn't realize the implications of this until about 9:30 a.m., 2 hours to projected ETA of the tsunami. Residents of Pukalani and Makawao started calling in to the radio stations complaining about all the people crowding their roads and neighborhoods. They made requests that people be told to stop coming up here; the stores were getting emptied, the gas was going fast, and yadda, yadda, yadda!

Emergency Preparedness on Maui has no provisions for serving a displaced population (where do you run to on an island?) nor is there a clearing house -- let's say a central radio resource -- that, in a real emergency would be the definitive clearinghouse for the distribution of emergency information and direction to the people.

Now, they've called off the Alert. I think it just began.


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## FLEMTP (Feb 27, 2010)

enjoynz said:


> JP, I find that post, not the least bit funny.
> Given what happened in the Boxing Day Tsunami at Bali and the fact that Chile has had one of the largest known recorded earthquake's,
> hit their country.
> I thought you may have a little more empathy, given that this situation could well have been in your Country and State.
> ...




dude.. seriously.. take a xanax.. if you cant handle EMS style humor.. then you're on the wrong board.


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## JPINFV (Feb 27, 2010)

enjoynz said:


> JP, I find that post, not the least bit funny.
> Given what happened in the Boxing Day Tsunami at Bali and the fact that Chile has had one of the largest known recorded earthquake's,
> hit their country.
> I thought you may have a little more empathy, given that this situation could well have been in your Country and State.
> ...



Actually... parts of my state were under an advisory regarding this. I probably could have heard the warning siren at the house I grew up if they had it going off... 

http://www.sanclementetimes.com/ind...ntnt01dateformat=%B %d, %Y&cntnt01returnid=99

My problem with this is the media is too invested in "if it bleeds, it leads." The "ZOMG, every cable news channel needs 24/7 coverage of something that MAY happen" gets old quick. Additionally, if you're living on the beach (and, note, hotels only evacuated their bottom 4 floors... hmm...) you better have flood and natural disaster insurance. Maybe I've just seen one too many times of the boy that cried wolf to get uppidty over every little "This will kill you in 2 hours." Not every agressive animal (killer bees, fire ants) is going to spell doom to the human race. Not every "new" disease (new being new in general or new to the general public. Examples: SARs, West Nile, CA-MRSA, bird flu, swine flu) is going to spell doom. 

I swear, in 6 months the media is going to report about a new Epstein-Barr pandemic... because after all, something around 90 percent of the population in the US has EBV.


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## enjoynz (Feb 27, 2010)

FLEMTP said:


> dude.. seriously.. take a xanax.. if you cant handle EMS style humor.. then you're on the wrong board.




Sorry I'm not into taking pills....guess after almost 3 years of being a member of this community...I have lost my sense of humor to other people's misery... and I'm well use to black humor.
P.S...  it should have been posted in the humor section of the board, not the news section, that being the case.
Guess I'm must be the only member that sees it as being distasteful.
Although having said that...I know JP was trying to make light of the situation, and media does go over board at times.
There have been some reported death's from this Tsumani  though.So it's not really a laughing matter.

Enjoynz


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## JPINFV (Feb 27, 2010)

Then nothing is a laughing matter. 

Sorry, but the media crying about the sky is falling is exactly that, something to laugh about. People die or almost die every year in Southern Californian storm channels, but that doesn't make the local news any less pathetic when it's "Storm Watch 2010" every time we get 0.25 inches of rain. Similarly, MRSA isn't something to laugh about, however the panic generated by the CA-MRSA stories in 2007 are exactly that. A huge joke. Can I at least continue to poke fun at bad drivers, even though bad drivers kill people every day? 

As far as the location, I'm not going to start a new thread to post a joke picture after the predicted "emergency" (which, when I got to school to study after the warning had been called off, one of the cable news channels was still showing a live shot of a helicopter flying over one of the beaches. Go figure) had already come and gone. There's a perfectly good thread here to post it in.


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## firetender (Feb 27, 2010)

*Now that it's over...*

What interested me was the fear; how so many people REALLY panicked. Unfortunately, that's getting to be OLD news because with terrorism and all, our society is getting primed to freak out at any breach of its security. And YES there really is a machine out there that fans those flames, but I don't think it's the Press alone.

...and, it's enough to freak you out to realize all this is taking place on an island which, if it does happen, you _*cannot *_escape and a garbage can of water for you and figure at least two mandatory guests (were each household to carry its weight) will go just so far.


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## MrBrown (Feb 28, 2010)

Green watch were out and about today, brown is off .... I'm safe 

Best of luck to our Hawaiian friend.


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## mycrofft (Mar 1, 2010)

*Although a study showed...*

The ones who start running the soonest and fastest (and in the right direction)were the ones who survive disasters. That's why so many women and children get stomped and young burly guys get out of emergencies in theaters, churches, etc.
Nobody's heard of the Birkenhead Drill.


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