Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Tsunami Warning issued in Hawaii & other areas

This is topic Tsunami Warning issued in Hawaii & other areas in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=006073

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-27-2010, 11:30 AM:

A tsunami warning has been issued for Hawaii after an 8.8 earthquake struck the coast of Chile this morning. The Hawaii Tsunami Centre has a fantastic Pacific wide network that does accurate monitoring of potential wave actions and does not issue warnings unless they are very certain that a potentially dangerous tsunami has been generated. The quake that struck Chile today is slightly less than the one in 1960 that generated a tsunami that killed a lot of people in Chile, Japan, the Phillipines and here in Hawaii. The quake in 1960 had a whopping magnitude of 9.5. The entire west coast of the United States and other pacific coastal areas has also been warned by the Hawaii Tsunami Centre to expect a wave . Based on past historical records of earthquakes of this magnitude in Chile, Hawaii, Japan as well as other coastal countries are now in danger of getting hit by another tsunami. The 1960 wave killed 66 people in Hilo, here in Hawaii and a lot more in Chile, Japan and elsewhere.

-Claude

Posted by Joe Tommassello (Member # 4632) on 02-27-2010, 12:31 PM:

Head for the hills Claude!

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-27-2010, 02:11 PM:

Joe,
I live far inland and not in any danger but many stupid people are. Radio Civil Alert newscast had urged people to stay away from all beaches but the atmosphere at Waikiki Beach is like any other day when thousands of people have flocked there according to local news report. The last Pacific wide tsunami warning was in 1964 when most people were not yet born and do not realize how dangerous a tsunami can be. You would think the Indian Ocean tsunami with the tremendous lost of lives would make people aware how dangerous tsunamis are but I guess they have to find out the hard and tragic way if the wave turned out to be extremely damaging. Most of the people killed in Hilo during the 1960 tsunami would not have been killed if they stayed away from the Hilo waterfront. They were originally in safe areas but when news reports had said the first two waves that had hit was only a few feet hight, many went to the waterfront to check out the waves that were still coming. Tragically to sixty six of them, they did not realize the 3rd wave was thirty five feet high. It smashed into the Hilo coast and demolished buildings in a good portion of downtown Hilo. One of the building that was damaged beyond repair was the Hilo Theatre that was an exact copy of the Varsity Theatre in Honolulu that was demolished a few years ago.

The tsunami is expected here in Hawaii at about 11:00 am ( 4:00pm EST)

-Claude

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-27-2010, 06:17 PM:

It is almost 2:00 in the afternoon and the tsunami warning is still in effect but the Pacific Warning Centre is expected to sound the 'All Clear" very shortly after a series of very small waves hit all of the Hawaiian islands. The threat was very real but it might cause problems when future tsunami warning are issued. Thinking the next alert might turn out to be 'no big deal', a lot of people might not heed the warning and head for high grounds when the next warning is issued. It has been forty years since the last destructive tsunami hit Hawaii and people not born yet really do not know how bad a tsunami can be. I knew a teacher who was a Agriculture class instructor at my high school who lost his family except for a daughter during the April 1, 1946 tsunami at Lapahoehoe on the big island of Hawaii. Over a hundred people in the Territory of Hawaii on all the major islands were killed by the tsunami that was generated by a 7.2 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Later studies now show that the quake was 8.6- almost as strong as the one that hit Chile this morning. We were spared this time but there will be a killer tsunami hitting Hawaii in the future. The question is when?

-Claude

Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 02-27-2010, 06:21 PM:

Thanks very much for the update, Claude.

We in Australia have been watching this with interest as our East coast is now on alert as well.

Take care and look after yourself whatever happens.

Ian

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-27-2010, 08:58 PM:

Ian'

The tsunami warning was cancelled at 1:38 this afternoon (Saturday) after small waves hit the islands causing no damage at all. I understand there were some parts of the world that was affected by the tsunami had reported some property damage. Did the waves hit the east coast of Australia yet? I am very curious if the wave will be severe in Japan when the country reported more deaths than Hawaii during the 1960 tsunami.

-Claude