One of The Most Attractive Tourist Place - Hawaii Prepares For TSunami

Hawaiians braced for an expected tsunami from a giant earthquake off the coast of Chile, as officials in the state evacuated thousands of residents and tourists to higher ground.  The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, on its Web site reported that “the tsunami has reached Hawaii and is just beginning to register on Big Island gauges.”  But the first wave had not perceptibly hit the eastern side of Hawaii Island as of 11:45 a.m. local time, 25 minutes after it was expected to hit.

The “Big Island” of Hawaii was expected to face the biggest threat of wave damage, officials said, with the city of Hilo taking a particular hit. At 10:30 local time, the late-warning sirens in Hilo sounded, requiring even police to evacuate the area. Sirens had been sounding since 6:00 a.m. to warn residents to evacuate before the first wave was expected to hit at 11:04 a.m. local time in Hilo.

“Residents right on the coast should be concerned and evacuate the coast,” especially in places like Hilo Bay on the island of Hawaii, said Barry Hirshorn, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. The tsunami center’s Web site update predicts the first waves will hit Hawaii at 11:05 a.m. local time.

The tsunami-warning center’s models, based on readings from sensors, are predicting “very rough waves” from six to 10 feet high by the time the tsunami hits Hawaii at about 11:00 a.m. local time, Mr. Hirshorn said. Any major tsunami waves could be damaging, he said, because “the don’t crash on the beach. They streamroll in and they streamroll out.”

Hawaii Tsunami

A man carries a case of water down Kuhio Avenue in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hawaii issued a tsunami warning after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck.

“When that siren sounded, I can tell you, it was unnerving,” said Shannon Hines, a Honolulu resident. Ms. Hines and her neighbors said their neighborhood was not in the expected flood zone, but the group was making contingency plans to head for higher ground if the wave forecast changed. The last time statewide evacuations were ordered for a tsunami was in 1994, but large waves failed to materialize then.

Some of the most intense preparations were taking place in the greater Hilo area, said Bill Hanson, administrative officer with the Hawaii County Civil Defense on the Big Island. The city of Hilo is situated on the southeastern side of the Big Island, facing the direction from which a tsunami wave as high as 14 feet was projected to hit, Mr. Hanson said.

The city is preparing for major damage if the waves are big. “It’s not a matter of if, but when it will happen,” Mr. Hanson said.

Federal officials closed the Hilo International Airport at 5:30 a.m. Saturday so the estimated 5,000 residents of coastal subdivisions lying next to it could evacuate more quickly across the tarmac, Mr. Hanson said.

Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi issued an “emergency declaration” around midnight. Police, fire and civil-defense workers deployed in the early morning hours. These first responders had undergone a joint, comprehensive tsunami drill less than a year earlier. “Everybody knows exactly what to do,” said Mr. Kenoi, “and we’re ready.”

Tour bus and school bus companies made their vehicles available, along with local county busses, to transport residents to one of the 15 designated evacuation centers located throughout the island.

Some resort hotels were preparing to implement a “vertical evacuation” – moving guests to the third floor and above. By 7 a.m. local supermarkets and gas stations were packed with anxious residents stocking up for the possible disaster. Conspicuously absent were pushing, shouting and short tempers.

Eli Cantu and Scott Liang fill sandbags on Waikiki beach in Honolulu.

At the beachfront Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, officials said they had begun evacuating guests from the 286-room resort before tsunami sirens were scheduled to sound across Hawaii at about 6 a.m. They didn’t have an estimate on evacuees, but said the hotel was 75% full.

Hotel staff, meanwhile, said they planned to follow suit afterwards. Desk clerk Marian Somalinog said she planned to evacuate at 9:30 a.m. — almost two hours ahead of when the wave was expected to hit — but added that she wasn’t overly concerned. “If it’s my time to go it’s my time to go,” Ms. Somalinog said.

The warnings were being taken seriously in Hawaii because the state — especially around Hilo — has been hit by giant tsunami waves before. At least three big ones have struck Hilo since World War II, including one in 1946 that killed 163 people and another in 1960 that killed 61, said Mr. Hanson.

The most recent loss of life from a tsunami on the island occurred in 1975 when a big wave killed three campers at a beachfront park, he said.

Authorities were hoping loss of life would be minimized this time, in part because tsunami drills are commonplace on the Big Island and throughout Hawaii. Evacuations were also being ordered on other parts of the island, including the affluent Kohala Kona coast where many large resorts are situated.

Waves there were expected to rise as much as seven feet. Other parts of Hawaii, including Maui and Oahu, were not considered in as great a threat because the Big Island lies in the path of the projected tsunami wave and would take the brunt of its force, Mr. Hanson said.

On Oahu, officials said lesser waves of about three feet were anticipated. But they added those could still be large enough to cause concern. “A three foot wall of water that has traveled all the way across the Pacific can cause a lot of damage,” said John Cummings, spokesman for Honolulu’s Department of Emergency management.

Rob Kay, a public-relations executive in Honolulu, said he could see an unusually large number of pleasure boats headed out into the waters off Waikiki Beach, apparently so they could ride out the waves more safely there. And on Oahu and Maui, hotels were readying plans to evacuate guests to higher floors.

“No one is panicking, but they are concerned,” said Lynne Delatori, a desk clerk at Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club timeshare resort, where officials planned to evacuate the 700 guests above the fifth floors, if need be.

A man jogs along Waikiki Beach in Honolulu.

In Hilo, most of the area’s 50,000 residents live on ground high enough to escape much damage from a tsunami. The area of greatest concern is a coastal plain around Hilo Bay where the Keaukaha subdivision by the international airport is located, as well as downtown Hilo.

Elsewhere, the tsunami was disrupting air routes to and from Hawaii. At San Francisco International Airport, delays in flights to airports in Hawaii were being reported as a result of the tsunami preparations.

People should stay away from coastlines for six to 12 hours after the wave to be safe, said Mr. Hirshorn, because the first waves aren’t necessarily the biggest.

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