• Tsunami dangers Tsunami dangers The death toll is now at 22,000 and counting from the 9.0 earthquake that struck Christmas Day off Indonesia and the tsunami it generated in Southeast Asia and Africa. The tsunami apparently hit about two
• Tsunami dangers
Tsunami dangers
The death toll is now at 22,000 and counting from the 9.0 earthquake that struck Christmas Day off Indonesia and the tsunami it generated in Southeast Asia and Africa. The tsunami apparently hit about two and a half hours after the earthquake – which is being recorded as the strongest in the past 40 years and one that moved the huge island of Sumatra more than 100 feet. The huge walls of water came without warning in most areas due to the lack of a modern tsunami warning system.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard hopes to set up an Indian Ocean warning system, and there is now talk of a global early warning system for tsunamis.
Such a system already protects the Hawaiian Islands, giving us hours of advance warning in most cases.
However, the system isn’t perfect and there is more to do in alerting residents of Kaua‘i and the other islands of Hawai‘i on what to do in case a tsunami threatens the Islands.
Tsunami that struck in 1946 and 1957 did devastating damage to most shorelines of Kaua‘i. Today, the damage would be much greater due to the larger amount of our shoreline that is now built up with homes and resorts. A few areas had run-ups of several dozen feet during those two tsunami, which was enough to flatten the village of Kalihiwai, destroy homes along the coast at Ha‘ena, run up and through the grounds of today’s Kaua‘i Marriott resort. The power of those surges destroyed substantial steel bridges at Lumaha‘i and Kalihiwai. A look upstream from the beachpark at Kalihiwai will show you the remains of the former bridge there.
Civil Defense agencies in each county are working on protecting lives and properties on their islands from tsunami damage. Kaua‘i County recently became the first county in the state to have its tsunami plans certified by the State of Hawai‘i.
While many households on Kaua‘i are ready and insured against hurricane damage – a lesson we learned following the devastation of ‘Îniki and ‘Iwa – most aren’t tsunami aware.
Those living along coastlines that might be hit by a tsunami should especially be aware of what a tsunami siren warnings sounds like, and have an emergency plan for heading to higher ground should a tsunami approach.
While the memories of the Hawai‘i tsunami of 1946 and 1957 is fading with time, we need to be aware that a tsunami could come at anytime due to an earthquake within the Hawaiian Islands, or an earthquake somewhere in the Pacific Rim.
Unlike a hurricane, which usually is anticipated days in advance of striking, a tsunami can arrive from faraway in a matter of hours. A locally-generated tsunami might strike in less than a half hour.
Hopefully the threat of a tsunami will remain just a memory, but we all need to be more aware of a danger that is likely to happen one day, and one that has already hit us in the past.
