On Friday Feb. 26th there was a massive 8.8 earthquake that happened just outside of Chile. This earthquake, which took place under the ocean, caused a bubble to occur. This bubble created a tsunami that was headed toward all of the Pacific Islands including Hawaii. I have a friend who is currently staying at the University of Hilo. While I was watching CNN they put up a map that showed the island and the only city they would show was Hilo. This was because that is where the tsunami was supposed to hit the worst. The tsunami was scheduled to hit Sat. Feb. 27th at 11:05 Hawaii time which was around 4pm here.
While the whole world was watching to see if the tsunami hit the small city my friend was texting me while she was hiking up a mountain to get as far from the bay as she could. This also gave them a good view of the bay so they could watch the waves. While we were texting she was saying that there were at least 4 helicopters ciricling around and filming the tsunami. CNN would show a time lapse video of water receding out into the ocean revealing a small reef and then the water.
The media definitely over dramatized the whole situation making the entire world panic. My friend in Hilo said thaty they were given warning 5 hours before it was supposed to happen. She said that people packed their things, went to breakfast, went shopping, and then went to the top of the mountain to watch it. She texted me pictures that showed hundreds of people on the mountain with telescopes, standing on their cars trying to see the bay, and even having barbeques. The media put most of the panic in everyone. Fortunately, the largest swell that Hill Bay received that day was 3 ft tall, which did not cause any damage.
I'm very glad this didn't destroy anything or cancel my spring break plans to go to Hawaii for 10 Days !!!! :)
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lovely to hear that hawaii residents made light of the situation with a nice, traditional pork roast :). i don't think that the media made too big of a deal about it, i mean having hype over these disasters is better than downplaying them.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend from Indiana vacationing there with her family...and on the island that CNN & Co were focused on! They were staying on the other side of the island, though...not that it mattered in the end (thankfully). We had a student from this section also there in Hawaii! So that was highly unamusing. There definitely was an ambulance chase feel to that day--I was watching, for sure....
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