Another brutal reminder this morning of how quickly life can turn.

Thoughts and prayers are with the Chilean people and everyone visiting the area who were in harms's way when the quake(s) struck.

Best wishes to all in the tsunami warning and watch areas. We have at least one ETS member in Hawaii that I can recall.

This is expected to be the most significant tsunami event to affect Hawaii since 1964.

Will be interested to hear from those on the U.S. west coast. Oregon, for one, has done quite a bit in the past twenty years to increase tsunami awareness and plan for evacuations on its coast.

A friend of mine is currently visiting his home on the Big Island. The 6:00a warning sirens will be going off there very shortly.

How puny we are when the most violent geologic forces are unleashed.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/category.asp?C=176904&nav=menu55_1_1

Live coverage from Hawaii.

In one segment there was a sign in grocery store limiting 'spam' to two cans and that was before the sirens went off. Also showing long lines at gas pumps.

I'm in W. Wa and noticed a warning for Westport earlier.

Some notable headlines from the public reaction perspective.

Compressing DC's typical snow-induced hoarding panics that occur with days of advance notice into just a few hours would be a frenzy I hope never to behold.


http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100227/BREAKING01/100227016/1352

Updated at 4:57 a.m., Saturday, February 27, 2010

Stores seeing influx in customers looking for last-minute supplies

"People were stocking up on water, soda, toilet paper and large bags of dog food."

customers "are coming in and buying water and food."


http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100227/BREAKING01/100227025/1352

Updated at 5:45 a.m., Saturday, February 27, 2010

Motorists swamp gas station in Kahaluu

Dozens of cars were lined up, with motorists hoping to fill their gas tanks before the station on the windward side of Oahu closes at 6 a.m.


Updated at 6:05 a.m., Saturday, February 27, 2010

Civil Defense says first waves to hit at 11:04

Tsunami waves are now expected to hit the Big Island at 11:19 a.m., followed by Maui at 11:29 a.m., Oahu (11:49 a.m.) and Kauai (11:59 a.m.), according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Oahu Civil Defense is reporting the first waves will arrive at 11:04.

Re-stocking of the stores could take more time as almost everything comes from the mainland.

And there was a 7.0 quake off Okinawa yesterday, with several more over a five in the past week. Quite a bit of sizable activity in the past two months. Being from a tectonically stable location, I'm not sure if that is normal or not.

I hope Aloha and his family are already on high ground.

Excellent point about re-stocking groceries taking longer than on the mainland. And if any ports are damaged that could impact cargo ships.


Here's a Hawaii tsunami website that just went live. Includes Twitter posts and streaming video.

A lot peops who live there are contributing. There have never been so many people equipped with the ability to transmit images and video of disasters and provide real-time commentary.

The cable news channels are all drawing upon Twitter and Facebook to augment their coverage of the quake and tsunami.


The Honolulu Advertiser has links to all its tsunami articles here:

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/


My friend on the Big Island (Kohala) was supposed to fly out of the Kona airport today early afternoon. The highway goes through evacuation zones so not sure how that's going to go.

There are worse places to be stranded. His house is at over one thousand foot elevation.

Yes, best regards to Aloha.

There was discussion after the '04 Indonesia 9.0 quake that those mega-quakes ring the Earth like a bell. I recall reading that there is some correlation with a greater incidence of big quakes in the few years following.

I am from an unstable tectonic area, and I have been reading up on earthquakes for a presentation I will make in a week.

In a typical year, one million earthquakes occur worldwide that are big enough to be felt by people. Most of them are small stuff. magnitude 3 or smaller.

Just business as usual within the Ring of Fire (the Pacific Rim, earthquake and volcano factory for the world).

In southern California yesterday we had five (mag 2.7 to 4.1) and we have already had two today. These are centered near Coso Junction, about 140 miles away, so none of my teacups have rattled yet.

It's worth noting that the huge 1960 Peru earthquake was preceded 8 hours by a major earthquake. Hawaii (and Peru!) shouldn't assume this is all of it or even the worst.

The news media speaks of aftershocks. There are also things called 'foreshocks'. An 8.8 quake would be an awful foreshock, wouldn't it?

Sue