December 31, 2004

Thoughts on the Aftermath

The Day After... Hilo after the 1960 tsunami

Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,
Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you
and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.
I establish My covenant with you and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.
God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations
I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.
It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud,
and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.
When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.
And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth. Genesis 9:8-17


"Are we ready? I cant answer that. Im not sure... I dont know enough about it, but I will be finding out..." President Bush to a reporter responding to the question "Are we ready in this country if such a tsunami were to happen here....

"We are NOT ready, that is my answer to the President..." Mayor Harry Kim, mayor of Hawaii county and acting Civil Defense coordinator. Prior to being elected Mayor he held the Civil Defense post for 24 years...


I have been writing down things that I have heard people say about tsunamis and not just about this catastrophe but the others that I am aware of. There has been a lot of discussion here about the "state of the art warning system" that we have...

Every one seems to have some one they know that was affected... My friend Sherry was into the store today. She and others in the town are setting up a series of relief concerts for the month of January, and wanted to know who involved I wanted to get...count me in... I will have a bit of time, if not stuff to donate to the silent auction.

But it was her stories of her mother, a survivor of the 1946 tsunami and the 1960 one (Sherry was 3 and carried as they ran up into the foothills of Mauna Kea for safety)that got me to thinking that I should listen to what people are saying, and record that. I wish that I was better at this for today was a banner day for such...

This morning on KPUA radio they had a hour long discussion of Tsumani preparedness. Dr. George Curtis, a renouned expert on tsunami in residence at UofH Hilo spoke on how the type of tsunami that was experienced in the Indian Ocean is very similar to the types we have here in the Pacific. We should expect major tsunami on the western coast of the North American continent and he said there was one in the Seattle Tacoma area up into the Sound 300 years ago... California is totally vunerable and its a miracle that there hasnt been one recently... While the East coast of the US is unlikely to have such events it is still possible, due to the huge fault running down the middle of the Atlantic seabed and should a major Volcanic erruption take place in Iceland or the Canary Islands. I was driving and was not able to take notes but I would say that a global warning system wouldnt be a bad idea...

Dr. Curtis also shredded the silly notions that the eco wackos have been spouting...I actually heard some of these stated by callers on the Rush Limbaugh Show and I thought that Roger Hedgcock was going to fall off his chair...I will put some out here for your amusment

"The Tidal wave was caused by Global waming... The seas are so high from the melting icecaps that a little high surf sould inundate these tiny islands..." Yeah a little high surf 30meters and 500 mph sure...

"We are taking too much oil out of the ground and now the earth is colapsing..."

"Global warming is heating the earth and causing..."

"When you harm the earth things happen..." Yes somebody actually said that. Like Pele caused the tsunami caused shes pissed at all of us haolies moving on to her island...

Then the conversation turned to our Mayor Harry Kim. Mayor Harry is a rather soft spoken Pidgin speaking Korean man who is so well liked that he was voted back into office for another term with 98% of the vote, and he did nearly no campaigning. A prudent man that has spent a big chunk of his career in Civil Defense, he is neither an alarmist, nor overly pragmatic, but today he was the most passionte I have ever heard him about this issue... He is a surviver of the 1946,1960 and the 1974 tsunami that hit near my home and killed two campers in Kalapana...(he lives down here in Vacationland\Kapoho) I wrote down sound bites in as close to his words as possible as he rambled. I must tell you that by the end of his speech I was pretty darn scared...

"We are stupid in America...we think that the technology will save, it will not. What good is warning systems with no evacuation plan in place...Ask California, especially in the south where they build right on the beach (like Seal Beach)...Ask Oregon and Washington States what they do if they get warning? Do they have plan? No they tell me no they dont...

"Pretense...That is what we have that we think we are prepared...It is not...This could happen here, It is not if..."

"We arrogant, we think we laugh at nature. In 1998 we have warning that wave comming. Warn the people, people hear sirens...What they do? At ETA on Oahu we have 400 surfers in the water, and Ala Wai Canal is gridlock. 1000s visitor stranded on Waikiki...Wave no came, What if it had come..."

"Sadly mistake was made, warning not given to New Guinea in 1998, 5000 to 13000 die, we dont know. whole villages wiped out."

"We only think we understand natures ways... (Dr. Curtis concurrs here) We disrespect the ocean, We wrong..."

When asked about the warning system and how it worked Mayor Kim replied. " If Quake is here like 1883 (8.9 Mauna Loa Summit split open) and in 1974 (Kalapana beach front sank 12 feet into the ocean creating the subsidence) no time. Siren and waves... bang. But if it is like 1946 and 1960 cause far away. 1 hour to track mebbee less, but only three hours or less that is if people know... Do they know? Everyday we have 10000 visitors, do they know? since last quake 1991, we nearly have all new population here do they know?".... ( I failed the test with Sherry today on which siren was what... I would run the wrong way to the lava or to the water and DIE)... "The old people the ones that have lived through this are dying or they go away and we have no one that remembers..."

" Its not about "hazzard analysis" we do that good. We know the hazzard...we can track the waves, but what to do when they hit? Every year mainland has hurricanes we know how to track, we know to tell people to get out, but do we know who to minimize damage and the resulting risk factors... Its "Risk Analysis" , what are the potential risks and how to avoid them... For example. I am the bad guy because I am fighting the continued development of the island with out new roads and infrastruture, but for safety we need it. We get a warning that the wave is comming to hit Hilo, there are too many places with one road in and out... Take Keaukaha, where the dock is.. We need the equipment and stuff on the dock so that will get moved but that takes time in the mean time the siren is going and people are streaming out of the apartments houses and condos along the shore line there that is going to be one massive paniced traffic jam and I estimate we will lose the loading equipment and many lives in the exodus, and where does everybody go? Do they know...No. because no one wants to have drills as we dont want to scare anybody. I hope I scare everybody today. ( Hes right a major tsunami would wipe out the harbor operations and our airport that is right next door)...

"How do we stop a wave 50 ft high and going at 500 mph?" We dont...

I think it is rather well summed up by my hairdresser. John is a great sylist but is also a well know member of the local surfing Hui here in Hilo. I really needed a chop, so I was over and I asked him about the difference between the mondo waves we had on Oahu last week and the Tsunami and what was the difference...

" Big difference, yah. Winter waves, wind driven, and tide driven, get huge, have to be towed out away from shore to catch them... but the are slow...like max speed 100mph and those kine pipe, da kine you go through them... A big wave like that Tsunami kine yah 500mph, lift you up like a chip of wood and toss you into the air you cant ride one, foolish to try...You'd die, drown... See that is the difference."

He turned to the little gal who was dialing her cel phone in the next booth, she is working there and is expecting a baby...

" Wont do you no good, phones arent working there anyway and she was staying in the bungalows..."

" I have to know if she is still alive... she has to be alive."

John turns to me and says " her friend went to Phukett for holiday, staying in the bungalows on the beach... them shacks got hit by 500 mph wave then was sucked out for the second one... S**t, not one lived got dragged in the coral reef..."

John turns to the girl... his own son is her age, I know and he says, pretty gently for a home boy..." you know that I am saying the truth,I dont think that shes alive... would to God, Id give you hope but that would be a lie and I am not going to lie to you... you asked me what I thought and I am telling you that I think shes with God now...Her people said that they would call you and fretting is bad for the baby, so put the phone away, you are only racking up the bill..." She sniffs and puts the phone in her pocket and starts to sweep up.

John starts cutting me... "been to Thailand... fantastic beaches... dont think id go ever again now..." He stops and looks at me in the mirror... "Aleka, (my name in hawaiian) did you ever think such a thing could happen so big?"

I looked at him and said "Who could?"...

On the Blog "SmoothStone" Todays post really struck me The Kindness of God is all day long..." Psalms 52:3. Its all so overwelming yet it speaks to us. The reality is not that this is the work of an angry GD, but rather that we dont know the day or the hour of our demise and that we need to live each day as though it we our last and rejoice in the good things that we do have... There is something good in each of our lives to be thankful for, even today as we thank Him for life itsself. Thanks Smooth for writing that.

As the counts go higher let us hold on to Him Who's mercies are"new every morning"