Services for Hire

As I'm sure you all have heard by now, the island has officially "dodged a bullet" and all is well on the Big Island.

I went down the hill a little way, and the anti-climactic nature of it all was staggering. Not only did I not get a Pulitzer Prize winning photo, nor did I have a chance to witness the sheer awe-inspiring natural force of a tidal wave, but I also didn't get to rescue any beautiful women from harm's way, which of course would have led to a really great weekend. :) On the other hand, no one died and no property was damaged, so I guess we'll have to call this one a wash.

Still, this whole fiasco has started me thinking. This is the second "sure thing" natural disaster that has turned out to be nothing at all. Today it was the tsunami. Previously it was Hurricane Felicia, which, if you don't recall, was a class 4 hurricane on the warpath for Hilo. All projections showed it gathering strength and tearing the town apart. As it happened, though, all that really happened were 30mph winds, and (oddly enough) it actually rained less than normal.

As I see it, there's a common thread tying these two near-miss disasters together:
I blogged about them.

Now I'm thinking, why should I use all of this aversion power just for the people of Hilo? There are plenty of times when we're not under a threat here.

So I'm officially offering my services to the world. For the very reasonable sum of $1,000,000 US, a place to stay, and Internet access, I'll travel anywhere and blog about your impending disaster, thus causing it to diminish to the point of just looking silly. Of course, I'll need the money up front, just in case. And in the interest of being fair, if for some unforeseen reason the disaster isn't averted, I'll gladly have my next of kin refund half of my fee to help with disaster relief or whatnot.

Trust me. This sounds like a good deal because it IS a good deal.

Operators are currently standing by.

(disclaimer: countries offering all-I-can-drink Guinness will have first priority)

Sent from my iPod

Tsunami Interview on 9News

Hey everyone.  FYI, I'll be speaking on 9News today at 4:00, presumably making a bit of a fool of myself.  Please keep in mind that I'm nowhere near the danger zone, I don't know anything about tsunamis other that what I'm reading now, and I'm not Hawaiian. In other words, I'm perfect for a TV news interview. HA!

OK.  I'm going lower for a better look.  More afterwards.

More Resources - FBI Blogs

If my blog is just not enough for you (I don't blame you), and you'd like some more perspectives from the area regarding the tsunami, a good place to look is fbiblogs.com.  It appears that my slacking on the blogging as of late as caused my removal from the listing, but the people there are great, well informed, and very adept at sharing and communicating via the internet.  It's a great resource for collecting a wide variety of opinions on any Big Island topic, and worth checking out.

Tsunami and Island Time

I believe I mentioned this around the time of the potential hurricane Felicia here and here, but if not, I'm going to talk about it now, since I've got nothing else to do.

If you're not familiar with the idea of "Island Time," it's basically the idea that things move slower here.  There's less of a rush or pressing feeling to get things done.  Typically, it's one of those expression that's regarded with a sense of pride by some, and with a certain amount of disdain by others.  Personally, I don't really fall on either side, as I usually don't care, and just do my own thing, but today I was talking with Kaleo, and realize that unlike Colorado, even the weather and natural events seem to be a big fan of Island Time.

In Colorado, most major (read: devastating) natural events occur with little or no warning: tornadoes, avalanches, flash floods, etc.  Here though, apart from the threat of earthquake, all major events have this incredible waiting period beforehand.  We've had five hours of warning time for this tsunami (two hours to go, btw) and as I'm not in the evacuation zone, all I can do is sit here and wait for it.  Same thing with the hurricane; a lot of anticipation and worry leading up to the event.  Even in the case of typical (in the current estimated location) of a volcanic eruption, there'd be some amount of time (as little as half an hour in some cases, but still, that's some time) before the floe made it to any highly populated area.

So now I'm just waiting, listening to the sirens every hour, knowing that I can do nothing from here (or from anywhere, I suppose) to prevent this, protect anyone, or even get anywhere that allows me a good vantage point.

Where I'm at is about 4½ miles from the shore, and I'm up above 1600 feet.  From the yurt I can see the airport, and the Keaukaha coastline, as well as the south side of the bay.  I cannot see the sea wall, or any of bayfront or downtown, which are the areas that are at the highest risk.  I've cleaned off the memory card on my camera, and I'll try and take some photos from here to see how they turn out, and of course once it all slows down, I'm hoping to drive down the road as close as I can get, and then walk into town tonight to see the results firsthand.

But plans being what they are, it still leaves me with a sense of helplessness and uselessness right now.  Talking with Kaleo, we were discussion the strange concoction of feelings that come with this event.  On one hand, I'm certainly worried, especially for friends and family in town and on other islands, and we're hoping that this, like Hurricane Felicia, turns out to be a great display of precautionary measures that end up not being required.  On the other hand, this is really a once in a lifetime experience to witness an amazing display of natural power, so there is a feeling of excitement as well, which carries with it an amount of guilt for secretly hoping to see something amazing while knowing that if I did, other people will certainly be in danger.  All of this mixed with the very scene of normalcy here in the neighborhood makes for an edge of surreality, since the birds are all singing, the sun is up and it's a beautiful day, and the only thing that makes this Saturday morning atypical is the occasional neighbor walking up the road making sure that everyone has heard that there's a 15' tidal wave travelling at up to 400 miles per hour headed for town as we speak.

Very odd indeed.

And now, back to the waiting.

Tsunami History and Data

For those of you who like to do research, or prefer to know a lot about something, here are some links regarding the current situation facing Hilo:

Basic description of the last major tsunami to hit Hilo (1960):
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/1994/94_05_20.html

Info on the quake in Chile:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2010/us2010tfan/#details

And for semi-current information about the tsunami projection:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2010/us2010tfan/#tsunami
(and then use the Tsunami Warning for the State of Hawaii from PTWC link for the most updated sheet - sorry I can't link to it directly as it changes regularly)

Tsunami Update (8am)

So here's all I know so far:
I woke up at 6am to the sounds of the emergency sirens going off in town.  They're kinda like the old air raid sirens, in that you can hear them winding up and winding down.  The sound up here is actually very much like the sound as you're sitting on a plane waiting to take off, and the pilot starts putting the flaps down (or whatever they do) and you can hear the gears and hydraulics winding up as it cranks the flaps into place.  The sirens have continued to go off every hour on the hour.  They last 2-3 minutes.
Once hearing the sirens, I actually found a use for Twitter, as I was able to search for "Hilo Alarms" and found the info I needed.
We've had calls from friends and family on other islands, and apparently, there's a mad dash to buy gas and water and food.  Puggy from across the street went to town (I saw him leave at 6), and he said there are crazy lines for gas.
Apart from all of that, they're asking us to stay off of the phones as things progress, and we're getting updates on the radio every 15 minutes or so.  They're evacuating the shorefront, bayfront, and low-lying areas.  The airport was closed with the first warning siren at 6am.  Puggy said they're starting to close down the highways going in and out of town.
Current estimates put the potential wave height at 15 feet, but I'm not sure how they're measuring that, given that there's the potential for sea swell, as well as all of the water that would be sucked out of the bay before the wave arrives.
Bottom line: up here at the farm we are well out of harm's way.  Unfortunately, that also means that we won't be able to see much from this vantage point.  While I can see parts of the coastline from here, I don't think I'll be able to get any photos worth much to share with you.  I'll be spending the morning trying to think of a better location to safely see this from, given that it's basically a once in a lifetime experience.  Plus that would put me in a better position to possibly be of some help, as I'm feeling pretty worthless at the moment.  At any rate, I'll keep you updated as I can, or when I've got more information, and we'll go from there.
Please do not call or text, as the communication lines need to be left open for emergency situations.  I'll check emails while I can, and continue to monitor and update the blog through that.
We have plenty of water, gas, and food here to last quite a while should it come to that, so please don't be concerned.
More later.
C

Tsunami Alert

Just so you all know, I'm very high up the slope of Mauna Kea (1700')
so I'll be fine with this current tsunami threat. I'm sure phonelines
will be severely clogged, so please don't try to call today. If I get
a chance to go get some photos (after, of course, not during), I'll
post them.
Right now I'll be charging batteries and talking with neighbors.
Updates when relevant.
Once again, to be clear, I'm fine and will remain so, and please leave
the phonelines open for those who need them. Thanks.
Sent from my iPod