First, thank you for your concern. We are alive. You can still send flowers if you wish. My wife always loves flowers and you don’t need a natural disaster, or potential one, to show someone you are thinking about them.

I spoke with a friend last night who was at a party in Puako Beach just 6 miles north of us. He said the tsunami warning sirens were blaring all around him. I haven’t heard from him today but this side of the island didn’t get hit and he is a very pragmatic man, so I am sure he is safe. In fact the hardest anything was hit was Maui which had a 2 foot increase in the height of some waves. No big deal. If it was during the day the surfers would have loved it. No sirens in Waikoloa Beach, Hawaii…. Interesting. I remember last year there was a time I was down south in Kona and I heard a test for the tsunami warning sirens. They test them regularly as part of the island civil defense plan. But I have never heard them tested in Waikoloa. So are there no sirens in Waikoloa? If there are sirens here, why didn’t they sound the warning last night? If there are no sirens here, why not? I need to look into this.

Moving forward Leise and I will develop a proper disaster response plan. What do we do in case of _____? You fill in the blank: drought, famine, war, oil gets shut down and no more shipments of supplies come to this place (the most remote place on the face of the planet), alien abduction, major tsunami, Madame Pele (the volcano goddess) gets pissed off and the volcano explodes destroying life as we know it, etc. Last year we also felt an earthquake here on Hawaii. It was interesting. I grew up in Southern California. I am used to earthquakes. Generally speaking they are no big deal, unless you live in fear of “The Big One.” This earthquake last year was different. First, you could hear it. Yes!! It made an audible sound. It sounded like when the last set of tires on a large 10-12 wheel truck hauling dirt bounces as they are trying to keep with the rest of the truck. Second, the island below us bounced. Yes!! Bounced!! I have felt the earth roll as the energy wave from an earthquake moves past where I was sitting. I have felt the earth move back and forth as the earth plate below me tried to settle into a new position. But never have I felt the earth bounce before. It was interesting to say the least and it was a huge reminder that we live on an island in the middle of an ocean and there is no where to go to escape.

So on that heart warming thought I send you warm well wishes from the beautiful island of Hawaii and trust you are safe and sound wherever you are.

Aloha,
James Christopher

ThruJimsEyes.com

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