09-20-2007, 05:22 AM
Hi Folks-
This is my first post on Punaweb so hopefully the formatting and etiquette come through OK.
My partner and I still live in Alaska --for the moment-- but own and are in the process of building on a lot in Pahoa town as well some rural acreage a few miles south of Pahoa; we appreciate the great community and natural beauty there and intend to relocate over to Puna. Given the construction we have moving forward, this most recent volcanic activity near Pahoa has indeed been interesting.
Most of my life has been lived either on top of or within sight of active volcanoes or major earthquake faults in California, Indonesia, and Alaska and I've been through several eruptions and big quakes, so while I am indeed mighty impressed by the recent activity there is also no sense of panic, either. I think people in Anchorage (site of a killer 9.2 magnitude earthquake in 1964 and situated nearby a couple active volcanoes which have necessitated shoveling ash loads off of roofs fairly recently as well) as well as folks living along coastal California are far more at risk in many ways than most of the population in Puna. Personally, I find it almost reassuring to see lava oozing (though I do wish it would head south as it has in past) and to feel occasional small quakes. The silent build-up of explosive pressures and massive quakes is far more worrisome.
That said, I have a question for those of you with long experience in Hawaii concerning Plan B options if indeed the short direct road between Hilo and Pahoa becomes cut by a long-term slow flow of lava.
The economic consequences to Puna could be considerable, of course, if the ground supply route for petrochemical fuels and essential imported supplies jumps from twenty-something to one-hundred-plus miles and travel time for people needing to visit Hilo for services unavailable locally likewise jumps considerably. While a long-term severing of a short and direct ground route between Puna and Hilo could produce significant additional incentives for development of local ethanol production and "alternative" power sources (solar, wind, biomass, etc) for local use and --optimistically-- perhaps even encourage a Renaissance of sorts in local community-oriented institutions and businesses, the capital-intensive and specialized nature of some services (instrumentation-heavy advanced medical services, for instance) will still neccesitate people travel to Hilo for needs to be met. This is exactly the situation for most communities in Alaska: here, there is no road to Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Juneau (the only major urban centers) so people must either take the ferry or jump aboard a small plane and fly. Doing so raises the cost of living but works fairly well for the most part. A fleet of largely owner-operated small planes buzzes back and forth several times a day between most communities and the regional hubs or major urban centers, and the ferry boats travel around their circuit in a regular schedule of picking up and delivering people, vehicles, and goods from place to place. Remember, if a scale-accurate map of Alaska is superimposed on a same-scale map of the Lower 48 (Mainland, to you) then Alaska extends from Georgia up to cover most of the Great Lakes region and then extend out past Baja California. Alaska is so huge that it could be cut in two and Texas would still disappear if dropped into either half (as we love to remind Texans) and yet this system still works well here. When I say the distances involved between Puna and Hilo are shorter, I mean hugely shorter; no -10 to -60 degree F travel conditions to cope with either. So, I am wondering, why would this same system not work for Puna at least as well if the short and direct ground route becomes indefinitely cut off? Are there some geographical, economic, or cultural constraints precluding the construction of a ferry dock in Puna facilitating several-times-daily service between Puna and Hilo? If Alaskan small plane operators can be successful flying much longer distances in much MUCH worse weather and using much more expensive av-gas to provide many-times-daily transportation between rural Alaskan villages and regional hubs then why would this option not work at least as well --and probably much better-- to connect sites throughout Puna with Hilo? Please forgive my newbie naivete if the notion itself brings a horselaugh; the question is sincere. It just seems to me if small plane transport and ferry transport work well to connect otherwise isolated rural Alaskan villages under harsher and more expensive conditions across much longer distances, then such could work work at least as well to connect Puna. Certainly no significant fraction of 10,000 people will ever commute back and forth to daily jobs in Hilo by small plane and/or ferry service linkage, but tourists could come and go at will and locals could visit Hilo at need without such being a huge disruption or cost in either time or money, or so it seems to me.
How about it?
Best Regards,
Steven
This is my first post on Punaweb so hopefully the formatting and etiquette come through OK.
My partner and I still live in Alaska --for the moment-- but own and are in the process of building on a lot in Pahoa town as well some rural acreage a few miles south of Pahoa; we appreciate the great community and natural beauty there and intend to relocate over to Puna. Given the construction we have moving forward, this most recent volcanic activity near Pahoa has indeed been interesting.
Most of my life has been lived either on top of or within sight of active volcanoes or major earthquake faults in California, Indonesia, and Alaska and I've been through several eruptions and big quakes, so while I am indeed mighty impressed by the recent activity there is also no sense of panic, either. I think people in Anchorage (site of a killer 9.2 magnitude earthquake in 1964 and situated nearby a couple active volcanoes which have necessitated shoveling ash loads off of roofs fairly recently as well) as well as folks living along coastal California are far more at risk in many ways than most of the population in Puna. Personally, I find it almost reassuring to see lava oozing (though I do wish it would head south as it has in past) and to feel occasional small quakes. The silent build-up of explosive pressures and massive quakes is far more worrisome.
That said, I have a question for those of you with long experience in Hawaii concerning Plan B options if indeed the short direct road between Hilo and Pahoa becomes cut by a long-term slow flow of lava.
The economic consequences to Puna could be considerable, of course, if the ground supply route for petrochemical fuels and essential imported supplies jumps from twenty-something to one-hundred-plus miles and travel time for people needing to visit Hilo for services unavailable locally likewise jumps considerably. While a long-term severing of a short and direct ground route between Puna and Hilo could produce significant additional incentives for development of local ethanol production and "alternative" power sources (solar, wind, biomass, etc) for local use and --optimistically-- perhaps even encourage a Renaissance of sorts in local community-oriented institutions and businesses, the capital-intensive and specialized nature of some services (instrumentation-heavy advanced medical services, for instance) will still neccesitate people travel to Hilo for needs to be met. This is exactly the situation for most communities in Alaska: here, there is no road to Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Juneau (the only major urban centers) so people must either take the ferry or jump aboard a small plane and fly. Doing so raises the cost of living but works fairly well for the most part. A fleet of largely owner-operated small planes buzzes back and forth several times a day between most communities and the regional hubs or major urban centers, and the ferry boats travel around their circuit in a regular schedule of picking up and delivering people, vehicles, and goods from place to place. Remember, if a scale-accurate map of Alaska is superimposed on a same-scale map of the Lower 48 (Mainland, to you) then Alaska extends from Georgia up to cover most of the Great Lakes region and then extend out past Baja California. Alaska is so huge that it could be cut in two and Texas would still disappear if dropped into either half (as we love to remind Texans) and yet this system still works well here. When I say the distances involved between Puna and Hilo are shorter, I mean hugely shorter; no -10 to -60 degree F travel conditions to cope with either. So, I am wondering, why would this same system not work for Puna at least as well if the short and direct ground route becomes indefinitely cut off? Are there some geographical, economic, or cultural constraints precluding the construction of a ferry dock in Puna facilitating several-times-daily service between Puna and Hilo? If Alaskan small plane operators can be successful flying much longer distances in much MUCH worse weather and using much more expensive av-gas to provide many-times-daily transportation between rural Alaskan villages and regional hubs then why would this option not work at least as well --and probably much better-- to connect sites throughout Puna with Hilo? Please forgive my newbie naivete if the notion itself brings a horselaugh; the question is sincere. It just seems to me if small plane transport and ferry transport work well to connect otherwise isolated rural Alaskan villages under harsher and more expensive conditions across much longer distances, then such could work work at least as well to connect Puna. Certainly no significant fraction of 10,000 people will ever commute back and forth to daily jobs in Hilo by small plane and/or ferry service linkage, but tourists could come and go at will and locals could visit Hilo at need without such being a huge disruption or cost in either time or money, or so it seems to me.
How about it?
Best Regards,
Steven
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Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(