We are sitting, relaxing, tired, at the end of a long Saturday. We are joyfully watching “The Good Witch” on Hallmark Channel. The warning comes… “A 7.7 magnitude earthquake has struck British Columbia and a tsunami warning is in effect until 2:30am for the following islands: Hawaii; Honolulu; Kauai; Maui.” Suddenly we realize we have no response plan. We talked about it, before we moved to Hawaii that if we were ever separated by world events, like war or natural disaster, we would meet in Hana, Maui. We don’t believe in tattoos, but we had even thought of getting matching tattoos that read “If found return to Hana.”

We do not have a plan now. So Leise gets on her laptop and I on my iPad and we search the net to learn about tsunamis and Hawaii and what is the likelihood we, being roughly 1000 feet from the water, would survive a tsunami hitting our home.

The update comes. The estimated time the tsunami would hit the Big Island of Hawaii is 10:28pm. Now just 90 minutes away. We are really tired. We really do not want to get up and move. We know the disaster relief and warnings are for extreme cases and we know we are the luckiest people on earth. Leise finds a report that says Hilo, which is at the north side of the east end of Hawaii and faces British Columbia, is expected to get hit the hardest. She finds a report stating the tsunami warning/evacuation sirens are going off everywhere. We listen and do not hear any. We really do not want to go drive up the hill. Besides, we are on the 3rd floor. We should be okay. We hope. I find a tsunami evacuation map showing or condo building is just outside the minimum safe distance… And we are on the 3rd floor… Right?

I turn to Leise and tell her that if we don’t survive this night I will be very upset with her tomorrow. We discuss some relative plans for the next disaster and we are reminded we are on an island. We can drive up the hill easily and escape the potential danger, after all there are two 12,000 foot mountains within 20 minutes from our home. But for now… I’m going to sleep. If there is no blog tomorrow, please send flowers.

James Christopher

ThruJimsEyes.com