Aloha samhain, thank you for the concern and your thoughts.

Aloha is alive and well in the islands. Power was restored about an hour ago. I look at it as a preparedness test. We were ok today.

I felt the first quake, which was reportedly a 6.5 or 6.6 depending on who did the reporting, just as I was coming out of sleep. It didn't feel very strong and I was trying to figure out what exactly it was. The second one occurred a few minutes later and was reported to be 5.7 but it felt much stronger with lots more shaking. Then the power went out. Apparently statewide. Our governor was able to make an emergency declaration for the state so hopefully that will bring in federal funding for damages.

Fortunately for me and my family, there were do damages. I do not believe there were any deaths statewide, just some cuts and bruises. I guess we will know more in the coming days as damage assessment gets done.

On to the preparedness...

We had food, we had water, and we had multiples ways to cook. We had radios and batteries. Oh and the lights...I am a flashaholic after all. And we had a radio station that was able to stay on the air and broadcast. That was very helpful in staying informed of what was happening. So we cancelled our plans and hunkered down at home.

The portable stove was a big hit. We had a nice hot breakfast and some hot tea. Then a hot lunch. When the power went back on we had some ice cream (it was starting get a little soft). And I was going to make a fire and cook outside but the rains kicked back in, so food is cooking inside as I type this. We have been under a flash flood watch as well.

I use the recycle through approach to storing supplies including food and water and we were at our low point today. It is ironic that today was going to be shopping day for food and bottled water. We still have enough to get us through about a couple of weeks. I am rethinking my rotation schedule.

A blessing was our water system. Even though there was no power for the pumps to pump water, our reservoirs are situated as far uphill as possible so gravity alone is enough to generate about 60 pounds of water pressure.

Thanks again.