Tsunami - Hawaii and West Coast

[SwissMyst]

Pacific Rim activity: first New Zealand a few weeks ago and now this terrible impact in Japan. Just devastating.

 

The Ring of Fire is a ticking time bomb with no warning. I live on it too in Central Coast California and one cannot comprehend how in a few seconds everything without warning can be totally turned upside down, even though this is where we choose to live and under these conditions.

 

Life is so good here when it is good, which is exactly what I am sure so many also felt sitting on top of these fault lines, who now have so much taken away from them in an instant.

 

One thing we learned on our Indian Ocean trip is the island of Borneo is uniquely outside of this Ring of Fire and is remarkably stable with no major earthquake activity due its location between the major tectonic plates. However, it also has many water villages on stilts so I wonder how they fared because the tsunami waves can go anywhere.

[bepsf]

Having lived outside Tokyo 20 years ago, I remember a great many earthquakes while living there - Of course nothing of this magnitude...

There are dire days ahead for the survivors and the country of Japan - which may in fact affect a great many of us around the world economically as Japan liquidates assets held in other countries to bring funds back into the country to help rebuild.

[the2ofus]

Gerry, I will continue to keep your son and his family in my thoughts. I just watched the home video and can't imagine the fear and the worry for loved ones' safety.

 

Re: the earthquake off Kona in 2006, it is interesting how our memories of the same event can differ. I was on the same cruise with the Voyage of the Spammed as our happy group called ourselves. I remember two sharp jolts, each followed by lesser vibrations as I stood in my K cabin bathroom getting ready to go ashore. Shortly afterward, the captain informed us all of the quake. Looking out toward the island, we could see a dust haze hanging over the land. The guests who had already gone ashore were soon tendered back to the ship. I remember remaining at anchor for several hours with the captain stating that we were waiting to be sure that we weren't needed for evacuation aid or other services.

 

If I remember correctly, our next port was Lahaina, on Maui. There were torrential downpours all day, and some roads were impassible because of fallen rocks from the earthquake which caused damage on Maui and also on Oahu.

[erewhon]

was taken at home by someone living in Sendai while the quake was happening.

 

Thank you for the link to this video.

Fully understand their feelings,....we are still experiencing many aftershocks after the Christchurch quake

The videos of the tsunami are horrific.

Our sympathy and prayers to the people of Japan.

[highland cruiser]

Sending our prayers on their way to the people of Japan also.

 

We live on the Oregon coast and got our first tsunami warning at 5 am. The low lying areas of our small town were evacuated to higher ground.

We had a small surge up the bay so all it all it was a good drill for us. Now our emergency management people will assess and make necessary changes to the way everything was handled.

 

We love our Oregon coast but do realize that we live in an unstable area. Seeing all the horrible damage in Japan makes us realize it could be us someday. Today we were blessed with just some small inconveniences.

 

Mary

[ger_77]

We just received word from our son that he made it back to their apartment safely, 20 hours after he left his school following the earthquake. Both he and his bride are safe and their apartment, although a mess, is still intact.

 

Thank you everyone for your care, concern, and prayers. We now pray for those who have lost family members in the northern part of Japan - the pictures on TV are devastating to see. The effects of the tsunami are unbelievable in their magnitude of destruction. Our hearts go out to everyone affected.

 

Smooth Sailing! :):):)

Gerry

[Cruising-along]

We just received word from our son that he made it back to their apartment safely, 20 hours after he left his school following the earthquake. Both he and his bride are safe and their apartment, although a mess, is still intact.

 

Thank you everyone for your care, concern, and prayers. We now pray for those who have lost family members in the northern part of Japan - the pictures on TV are devastating to see. The effects of the tsunami are unbelievable in their magnitude of destruction. Our hearts go out to everyone affected.

 

Smooth Sailing! :):):)

Gerry

 

That's wonderful news! What a nightmare for all involved. I'm so happy for your good news. :)

[kakalina]

We arrived in Honolulu today with the Tsunami. All the ports in HAwaii were closed when we arrived at 7am. The coast guard had the ship on hold waiting permission to dock. The Navy helicopters were doing flyovers to ascertain the damage before allowing us to dock.

 

We finally docked at noon. There is very little damage to the island although we heard some small marina got wiped out. We are visiting friends in town and will let you know if there are any further problems. We are waiting to hear how Fanning Island fared the waves.

[RevNeal]

We arrived in Honolulu today with the Tsunami. All the ports in HAwaii were closed when we arrived at 7am. The coast guard had the ship on hold waiting permission to dock. The Navy helicopters were doing flyovers to ascertain the damage before allowing us to dock.

 

We finally docked at noon. There is very little damage to the island although we heard some small marina got wiped out. We are visiting friends in town and will let you know if there are any further problems. We are waiting to hear how Fanning Island fared the waves.

 

Thanks for the report!

Still haven't heard from Mary and Keaka, but your report gives me hope.

[Iwant2BatC]

Checking in from the Kona coast. Hawaii has an excellent tsunami warning system and the sirens started within an hour of the first reports of the devastating earthquakes. For those of you who have visited Kona the area where the tenders come in sustained quite a lot of damage. The streets were flooded and some of the sea wall destroyed. Some stores are Alii Drive were flooded as well. You can check the photos on www.westhawaiitoday.com and see the devastation. All in all, our damage is mild compared to the poor folks in Japan. My heart goes out to all of them.

[DizzyDallasDi]

RevNeal - It was reported in the DMN that the quake was recorded in Dallas; albeit, so small that no one could have felt it, but still it was recorded all the way over here. Now that's one massive earthquake!

 

My heart and prayers go out to everyone effected by this tragedy.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Checking in from the Kona coast. Hawaii has an excellent tsunami warning system and the sirens started within an hour of the first reports of the devastating earthquakes. For those of you who have visited Kona the area where the tenders come in sustained quite a lot of damage. The streets were flooded and some of the sea wall destroyed. Some stores are Alii Drive were flooded as well. You can check the photos on www.westhawaiitoday.com and see the devastation. All in all, our damage is mild compared to the poor folks in Japan. My heart goes out to all of them.

Thank you for posting this, Kailua-Kona holds a special place in my heart.

 

I too send out prayers for everyone in Japan.

[rajkr74]

We go to Kailua-Kona quite often and were there in Nov. Here is a YouTube video of the water coming over the sea wall this morning. We go for the Kona Coffee Festival and based on what I have found out it doesn't look like there was too much damage, thank heavans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Wh0_yNJhc

[erewhon]

Checking in from the Kona coast. Hawaii has an excellent tsunami warning system and the sirens started within an hour of the first reports of the devastating earthquakes. For those of you who have visited Kona the area where the tenders come in sustained quite a lot of damage. The streets were flooded and some of the sea wall destroyed. Some stores are Alii Drive were flooded as well. You can check the photos on www.westhawaiitoday.com and see the devastation. All in all, our damage is mild compared to the poor folks in Japan. My heart goes out to all of them.

 

Thank you for this link.

So sorry to see and read of the damage to Kailua Village .

We visited King Kamehameha's Kona Beach hotel last October while ashore from the Volendam, what a shame this lovely building and others suffered flooding damage.

[nsw104]

I'm in Kona right now.Todays(3/12) West Hawaii edition says the Kona pier is condemned by the Coast Guard after being hit by the tsunami.Looks like ships won't be able to tender here for awhile.

[V and S]

Santa Cruz Harbor had $17 million in damage, lost 18 boats (which sank when the docks were ripped away), and another 50+ are seriously damaged (by concrete pilings and other boats hitting them). The sailors said, 'boats are just stuff, not lives." Before the third surge, the ocean drew back almost right to the end of the Santa Cruz Wharf, exposing the reef. Yesterday, Coast Guard helicopters were overhead all day long and we had evacuations by the shore. Our hearts go out to the Japanese amidst the continuing devastation and fear, now nuclear.

[hulamoon]

It was a long and sleepless night with the sirens going off each hour. I think the combination of watching what happened in Japan and knowing the models were sure something would hit us put the nerves on edge.

 

And until we heard the ships in Pearl Harbor were staying, I couldn't relax. Even then, I stored water and checked how many cans of food we had and what would need to be BBQed if we lost electricity. We hoped that would be the outcome and our house wouldn't be floating in the pacific.

 

But I figured since PH was parallel to my house it would likely be okay.

 

I confess to vows to buy life vests for the dogs and doing a better job of the emergency evacuation kit.

 

Oahu's attention is with Japan, so many close ties bind us. Still haven't spoken to Kona friends, but I figured they needed the rest.