Tsunami Warning

Wow. These earthquakes are devastating. Good luck to our Hawaiian residents.
 
8.8 is a really strong earthquake, significantly stronger than the January 12 one in Haiti. This quake has apparently killed over 120 people in Concepcion, shattered the airport terminal in Santiago, and rocked buildings in Vino del Mar and Valparaiso. While Chile have a much better infrastructure than Haiti, the narrowness of the country means that a lot of in-country travel is dependent upon single roads and bridges, some of which have been damaged. As yet Chile has not requested international help. But the effects must be devastating.

I experienced a 5.9 quake while visiting Santiago in 1997. We were 400 miles from the epicentre. I'm glad I don't live in an earthquake zone!
 
The earthquake in Chile is said to be 500 times more powerful than the recent Haiti quake and according to the NYT, was on the same fault line that generated the 9.5 Chilean quake in 1960.

Thoughts and prayers to all affected...and to those in the tsunami zone, GET TO HIGHER GROUND!
 
bbbamI said:
EWA BEACH, Hawaii – A tsunami threatened the Pacific Rim on Saturday, with an 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Chile sending potentially deadly waves across the ocean at the speed of a jetliner.

Hawaii blasts sirens, warning of possible tsunami - Yahoo! News
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I'm waiting for the tsunami to come ashore. I have a good vantage point to watch if anything significant happens. Current predictions are around 6 feet or so, but no one really knows for certain. DW and I are far enough inland that we are not required to evacuate. In fact, the current state of evacuation is vertical, not horizontal. Waikiki hotels are sending guests up above the 3rd floor. The main traffic we are seeing is folks running out for bread, TP, Spam and gasoline. Reminds me of the calm before a winter storm in the midwest.

I was receiving calls at 5 AM from mainland friends to be certain we were safe. Then the sirens started at 6:00 AM. I've lived through tornadoes, but this will be a new experience.

Friends are taking their boat out a couple of miles into deep water to avoid damage in the harbor. The surfers are still out - maybe looking for that perfect wave:nonono:

Folks are checking on each other and offering places to stay, so the Aloha spirit is alive and well. If anything happens, I'll let you know.
 
Somebody go tell surferboy Nords its time to get out of the pool....

Old member Honobob has a pretty much perfect view AIR - high condo overlooking a beach.
 
Koolau said:
Folks are checking on each other and offering places to stay, so the Aloha spirit is alive and well. If anything happens, I'll let you know.
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Hold on tight...we are thinking of you...be safe.
 
Achiever51 said:
The earthquake in Chile is said to be 500 times more powerful than the recent Haiti quake and according to the NYT, was on the same fault line that generated the 9.5 Chilean quake in 1960.
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I have read that the Haiti earthquake was magnitude 7.0, whereas the Chile earthquake was magnitude 8.8. Since the scale is logarithmic, if my math is correct, the Chilean one is only 63 times stronger

10^8.8/10^7.0 = 63

In any event, a grievous catastrophe. I have been to Chile, including in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. It is my favorite country in South America.
 
Praying for DD, in the Laie (north shore Oahu) area. Worried sick...hope it doesn't turn out badly.

R
 
The Tsunami Warning Center was on this all last night. They sounded the warning sirens this morning (6 AM & 7 AM) to get people moving up. There was another siren at 11 AM as a reminder that it was showtime. The evacuation has been carried out and the whole state is locked down.

Hilo Bay & the park (which used to be bustling waterfront until the 1960 tsunami) seems pretty calm. There's a definite surge but thankfully it's less than forecast. We've seen a couple cycles now and it doesn't seem to be getting any worse.

I've never seen so many live beach cameras... if we get through this without damage, the Hawaii Visitors & Conventions Bureau is going to be turning backflips over all the free coverage. Streets, malls, parks, everything is closed. I think everyone is hunkered down somewhere with a camera feed.

Sailboats have been ordered to sea. Most marinas on Oahu require all their sailboat tenants to actually drive outside the breakwater once a year before they're allowed to sign a lease, so everyone's expected to be seaworthy for a mile past the breakwater.

We heard that Pearl Harbor sortied four warships but no details. If it's a busy weekend then it's possible that's everyone who was inport but I don't know for sure. Haven't heard whether or not submarines were required to sortie.

Rambler said:
Praying for DD, in the Laie (north shore Oahu) area. Worried sick...hope it doesn't turn out badly.
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I can't ever recall a traffic mess up there. I think this is going to be the best-executed (and best-covered) tsunami in history.
 
Nords said:
The Tsunami Warning Center was on this all last night. They sounded the warning sirens this morning (6 AM & 7 AM) to get people moving up. There was another siren at 11 AM as a reminder that it was showtime. The evacuation has been carried out and the whole state is locked down.

Hilo Bay & the park (which used to be bustling waterfront until the 1960 tsunami) seems pretty calm. There's a definite surge but thankfully it's less than forecast. We've seen a couple cycles now and it doesn't seem to be getting any worse.

I've never seen so many live beach cameras... if we get through this without damage, the Hawaii Visitors & Conventions Bureau is going to be turning backflips over all the free coverage. Streets, malls, parks, everything is closed. I think everyone is hunkered down somewhere with a camera feed.

Sailboats have been ordered to sea. Most marinas on Oahu require all their sailboat tenants to actually drive outside the breakwater once a year before they're allowed to sign a lease, so everyone's expected to be seaworthy for a mile past the breakwater.

We heard that Pearl Harbor sortied four warships but no details. If it's a busy weekend then it's possible that's everyone who was inport but I don't know for sure. Haven't heard whether or not submarines were required to sortie.


I can't ever recall a traffic mess up there. I think this is going to be the best-executed (and best-covered) tsunami in history.
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Good to know you're OK.
 
Ir has been pretty cool to watch the Tsunami hit. The various cams and TV stations have lots of coverage. The water surging in and out of Hilo bay three times was pretty noticeable even if far smaller than a disaster movie special effect. :)

On Oahu the local surf sites have seen a few foot surge. From my house on top of a mountain what is most impressive is to see every boat in the harbors out in the ocean.
 
The Pacific Tsunami Center guy was saying this may have been the perfect Tsunami big enough for everybody to see it but not large enough to cause any damage. I agree with him, I am not the waterman that Nords is but I've swum the 2.4 mile Waikiki Roughwater several times, and I would not have wanted to be in the water in the last hour.

So I can't fault the Civil Defense authorities for their actions at all. However, the government pitiful use of the web and newer technology to communicate to the citizen, residents, and city and state employee was embarrassing.

Plus I am pretty sure that folks digging out of the 3rd blizzard this year, are wishing for natural disaster that happen in sunny 80 degree weather.
 
Glad to hear all our friends in Hawaii are OK! I know it's been a hassle with alarms sounding at zero dark early and evacuations but better safe than sorry. Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers tonight.
 
The Pacific Tsunami Center guy was saying this may have been the perfect Tsunami big enough for everybody to see it but not large enough to cause any damage
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It's hard to describe something as massive as this totally accurately, but 5 people killed on Robinson Crusoe Islands and coastal South American towns sustained damage that is certainly more than "not large enough to cause any damage"

Glad the warning system worked as well as it did.
 
Glad to hear everybody is okay ! My Sister is supposed to be traveling to Chile next week on business .
 
growing_older said:
It's hard to describe something as massive as this totally accurately, but 5 people killed on Robinson Crusoe Islands and coastal South American towns sustained damage that is certainly more than "not large enough to cause any damage"

Glad the warning system worked as well as it did.
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I think some smaller pacific islands saw 7 foot tsunamis.

Audrey
 
Ir has been pretty cool to watch the Tsunami hit. The various cams and TV stations have lots of coverage. The water surging in and out of Hilo bay three times was pretty noticeable even if far smaller than a disaster movie special effect. :)
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I still haven't located a video of this on the web. Anyone?

Yesterday we noticed a ton of people at a vista point by the ocean (here in far northern California). They must have been expecting to see something.
 
I saw a shot of the Tsunami Warning Center on TV coverage of the Chile earthquake. The center is called the Richard Hagemeyer Center. I worked with Dick Hagemeyer at NOAA headquarters outside of D.C. in the early '80's when he was deputy director of the NOAA Budget Office. Prior to that he was Executive Officer of the National Weather Service. I knew that he transferred back to Hawaii before he retired there but I didn't know that the center had been named for him.
 
TromboneAl said:
I still haven't located a video of this on the web. Anyone?
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It was more like a huge ebb/flood tide than what people think of as a tsunami.

Here's 42 seconds of the park at Hilo where it was the most visible:
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/global...Id=4580623&topVideoCatNo=91610&autoStart=true

People said several smaller sets of waves were making landfall all yesterday afternoon/evening every hour or so.

grumpy said:
I saw a shot of the Tsunami Warning Center on TV coverage of the Chile earthquake. The center is called the Richard Hagemeyer Center. I worked with Dick Hagemeyer at NOAA headquarters outside of D.C. in the early '80's when he was deputy director of the NOAA Budget Office. Prior to that he was Executive Officer of the National Weather Service. I knew that he transferred back to Hawaii before he retired there but I didn't know that the center had been named for him.
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Spouse was a Navy meteorology/oceanography officer, and when we got out here in 1989 he was already a legend. He died shortly after he retired in 2001.

Scott Gudes Tribute to Richard Hagemeyer
Access NOAA - Happenings -

Ironically Ewa Beach, where the warning center is located, is about six inches above sea level...
 
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To help with the scale, the bridge in the video is about 10' tall. The water was slushing back and forth about every twenty minutes and there were 3 distinct waves.
 
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