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

Various maps of the 8.8 quake

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010tfan.php#maps


South America seismicity map.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/S_America.php


List of earthquakes on that map

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/S_America_eqs.php


I'm counting 8 earthquakes over 6.0 at that location. One of the aftershocks was 6.9 -- any one of those "aftershocks" would be the screaming news headline if it hit anywhere in the U.S.

54 additional aftershocks so far measuring over 5.0

People that live in high rises distinctly felt the quake here in Buenos Aires. There were no consequences though.

Any word from Aloha? I know Aloha is not to far from me. So far ebb and flow of the tides have been noticeable but nothing drastic yet. We'll see what happens within the next few hours. I'm sitting on high ground watching the local news. Our family is getting calls left and right from relatives all over the US mainland. High anxiety but nothing exciting yet. We'll see.

Latest bulletin from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/hawaii/2010/hawaii.2010.02.27.224244.txt

Here are links to the local news. So have live streaming coverage.

http://www.kitv.com/index.html

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/

http://www.khon2.com/default.aspx

Here are links to the local traffic cameras.

http://www.honolulu.gov/cameras/

http://www.honolulu.gov/multimed/hotspot.asp

*** UPDATE Awaiting official word of tsunami warning cancellation.

As of 1:44pm Honolulu. The tsunami warning has been canceled.

Colorful graphic of tsunami:
http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera/2010/02/power_in_the_sea.php

Check out the NOAA link for details.


Some handy explanations, check out the links, and expert analysis of bogus reporting:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/02/chilean_earthquake_fallout_msn.php

This reminds me of something blast said at lunch a few days ago. "we are preparing for more than the end of the world".

I was looking at CNN and how they said that looters were being dispersed from near empty grocery stores.

Even as a child, we had at least 2 weeks of food on hand because of the blizzards we would endure. Actually we only went to the store every 2 weeks even in the summer.

Here are some interesting facts.

I think the 1960 event was two different main shocks / earthquakes, not a fore- or after-shock. But I can't find a reference offhand - the first one became at best a footnote after only eight hours when the 9.5 hit.

The one good thing about having two in 1960 - all of their responders had gone to their stations to deploy to the first quake by the time the second occurred - they were already near their equipment. Also, anyone close enough to feel the first was already out of and away from buildings when the 9.5 happened.

It never ceases to amaze me when seeing the news reports of the panic buying going on before or after a storm or event. I could understand it if a person were under financial hardship but in many cases it's just lack of planning. Making a run for dairy products, bread and fresh produce is one thing. But when you see the runs on canned goods, toilet paper and dry dog food. One does begin to wonder. I always check the expire dates and just rotate things out. The kibble I buy is one of the better dry dog foods, with less preservatives and additives than the grocery store brands, and still has an expire date 9 to 10 months out.

People in general are living closer to the edge. A lot of middle class families into the 70s had a months income in the bank and a couple of weeks supplies in the pantry.

Presently a similar number are several thousand dollars in debt to their credit card company, are driving cars they owe money on, and living in a house they can't afford. And have been living beyond their means so long that they don't know any other way of getting by.

Ahh yes. My dad was one of those that had the rude awakening from the 6am civil defense sirens. Strangely enough that Costco was open that early. So he went off to Costco and did his shopping of food. I didn't tell him about the hidden reserve in my closet. I did a lot of prep work when they turned the tsunami advisory to a tsunami warning and that was 6 hours before the official word got at 6am. Around 3:30am I went to bed and woke up around 11am when the 2nd alert siren went off.
I turned on the TV and started eating a Cherrios like it was popcorn.

Oh I keep forgetting. Has anyone heard from Aloha?

Sometimes space is an issue. The containers for storing three week's of water for a family of four in preparation for a hurricane can be very bulky. There's a lot of plywood involved in protecting the house which is just a nuisance most years.

I admit that's rarely the problem for the hordes emptying shelves at the store, but it is an issue.

"The end of the world is easy to prepare for, it's all the stuff that'll happen between now and then that's got my attention."

Well put!

James_Van_A: for the space problem you mentioned, it would seem that one of those Water BOBs would be a good thing to have.

It fits in a standard bathtub, and you just fill it up. It would be good for hurricanes (assuming you were planning on sheltering in place, because you get some warning. Earthquakes, not so good.

Sue