We Survived the Tsunami

We've been absent from the blog for a while because we were vacationing on the Big Island with D's parents. The week was really fun and pretty chill...until Friday, the night before we were supposed to leave. The kids were asleep, and D and I were watching the Olympics. We were up past 9:30 (unusual for us) and there was a commercial for the 10:00 news. All I heard was "8.8 earthquake in Chile, tsunami warning", but D heard the part about the warning being for Hawaii! I didn't believe him at first, thinking we were way too far away, but he insisted, so we stayed up for the news. He was right, of course, but it was only a tsunami "advisory" at that time, so D just went to sleep. I, on the other hand, was more concerned, and kept watching the news.

I finally fell alseep, but n woke me up around 12:45 a.m., so after I put him to sleep, I turned on the news again. They had upgraded the advisory to a "warning", predicting it would hit just after 11 a.m. the next day. The newscasters were talking about the tsunami in the 1960's that occurred in Hilo due to an earthquake in Chile that had occurred in roughly the same area! There was frightening footage of people running for their lives as the water came rushing towards them. I managed to go back to sleep, but n woke up again at 4:45. This time when I turned on the news, they were talking about sounding the island-wide sirens at 6 a.m. to signal that everyone in the evacuation zones should be heading for higher ground. The scientists were predicting the wave to be up to 12 feet! I woke up D and told him to call his parents to give them warning and figure out what to do.

D's parents came over and we quickly packed up our stuff. This wasn't easy, as both kids were up by now. We didn't say anything to k about it, since we didn't want to scare her. After some debate, we headed to Waikaloa Village, which is a few miles inland, with a higher elevation (we were on the coast, at a condo in Mauna Lani). When we arrived, there were LONG lines for the gas station. We had about a 1/4 of a tank, so D got in line. I went into the grocery store, where people were stocking up on food and supplies. On the news, there were reports that Costcos were opening up extra early and that a supermarket put up a sign saying "max. 2 cans of Spam per customer" (only in Hawaii!) I think this was the first time when I've been in such a mass emergency situation. Although I was kind of comforted to see other people dealing with the same thing as us, it also elevated my fears, since there was much speculation.

After about an hour wait for gas, we headed toward the nearby golf course clubhouse and ordered breakfast. It was packed, and we had to wait a long time for the food. There were t.v.'s, though, so we were able to watch the news. Our biggest dilemma was figuring out when to go to the airport, since our flight was just after 2 p.m. out of Kona. The airport was still open (only Hilo shut down), but I didn't think driving toward the coast right when the tsunami hit would be a good idea. However, we also didn't want to miss our flight, and we weren't sure if there would be traffic or road closures, so we decided to go ahead.

We were listening to the radio the whole way, and they kept emphasizing that everyone should be in a safe place by now. It seemed like everyone was driving in the opposite direction as us, as we came down the mountain. We arrived at the airport just before 11:00, and there were some people who we thought were security at the entrance. We asked if we could just wait out the tsunami there, since it was close to the main highway and we knew we wouldn't be late for our flight since we were so close. I told D he better be ready to make a quick u-turn, just in case! We heard there wasn't much action in Hilo, and then the police told us we had to leave our makeshift waiting spot, so we decided to go to the rental car place and check-in. Everything was fine, and as everyone said, "we prepared for the worst and hoped (prayed) for the best". That was a day I will never forget.


Waiting for the tsunami over breakfast. How funny that n was oblivious to the whole thing.


Waiting at the entrance of Kona airport. Turns out that these guys work at the airport, refueling the planes, and they just wanted a safe(r) place to wait, too.