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Unlike hurricanes or tornadoes, tsunamis have no season.
Tsunamis can strike anywhere along the coast, any time of day, any season of the
year. They are not heralded by a drastic change in the weather. It could be a
gorgeous sunny day or a starlit night.
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Tsunamis have nothing to do with tides or storms. They are generated by violent
water displacement on the ocean floor. There could be an underwater landslide, a
major earthquake, or a freak cosmic strike from space.
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Even if you know a lot about tsunamis and read tsunami scientific data, unless you take
those statistics seriously, when that next tsunami wave train arrives on the horizon, you
could become another one of those statistics.
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There is definitely another tsunami out there. When is it coming? It is
inevitable and we are long overdue. George Curtis, tsunami scientist at UH-Hilo,
says, "Any time now!"
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Have you designed an evacuation plan from work, from home, from your children’s
school? Talk to your local Police or Civil Defense agency. Find out what
roads will be closed when there is a tsunami alert. How long will you be given to
evacuate? What about your car? Your boat? Your pets? Your
livestock? How do you protect your home or business from vandals? Find out
now.
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Perhaps your church group, Civic Club or Neighborhood Watch can create a tsunami alert
plan together. You could organize a group telephone tree or regularly check on
homebound neighbors or anyone else who might need special assistance.
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Don't ignore the safety precautions just because you live or work outside the
inundation zone. As Harry Yamamoto said in a recent interview, "You're in
the safe zone but just across the street from the inundation zone. The water
doesn't see a stop sign when it's coming. It's going to go until it
expends its energy and then it's going to stop."
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"Visitors should be told about this," says Martha McNicoll, who was working at
the Naniloa Hotel in 1960 the night the tsunami hit Hilo. "You can not
underestimate the power of water." After the tour buses had evacuated hotel
guests, staff members rechecked every room and found ten people who had stayed behind to
take pictures. "A tsunami is not anything people should take lightly.
People should be safe not sorry."
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Tsunami alerts are inconvenient and can be annoying. You must take these alerts
seriously and follow the instructions of the Civil Defense announcements. Please
prepare and pay attention. Together we can survive the next tsunami.
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Let us not forget.
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