The CNN Guy

I keep missing his name, but the CNN guy with the map and the magic marker keeps emphasizing the extremely unpredictable effects of tsunami waves. He just said that due to the many factors of coastline, ocean this and that, whatever, and speaking specifically of Hawaii, "a five foot wave in one place could be a twenty foot wave in another place."

That's seriously disturbing. I'm going to be watching the Hawaii situation closely (according to schedule, the tsunami is approaching now) to figure out exactly what to do here. I still think we're okay. But I don't know about that twenty foot wave thing. We are not much more than a mile from the ocean at its closest point. Two miles is apparently pretty much always safe. We're elevated but I don't know how high above sea level. If I trust the map, then we're okay. But I'll be watching Hawaii.

Nothing like this has happened to Hawaii for fifty years, nor on the West Coast perhaps in almost that length of time. The earthquake in Japan was the fifth largest recorded since 1960.

Hawaii, like Japan, drills frequently on what to do in earthquake and tsunami situations. Despite the certainty that a big subduction quake will occur here sometime (within fifty to a hundred years), our preparations are disorganized and ineffective. I have zero confidence in the communications systems in particular.

Not that what I'm seeing on TV inspires me with confidence about communications systems generally. I hope they are a lot better within Japan, and within Hawaii.