Is Anyone Disappointed?

[dcl]

What's with the gas thing? A full tank and no where to go if this thing had landed. On the other hand we were up and out at six this morning hunting down propane for our extra tank, otherwise we were fully stocked.

[missydog1]

Re the gas thing, that sounds needlessly judgmental Sean. Empty tanks happen. In my case, I normally keep gas in my car, but I had just driven to Waikoloa to see family and that wiped out my tank. Gas is expensive on that side and I always refill in Hilo if I can. But I live north of Hilo so when I came back I just went home with the plan to fill up next time I NEEDED to go to town. Then there was an earthquake and the news broke at night. My son too had just gotten back from the west side and had little gas left.

Why would we need it? Because if the bridges went out over the Wailuku, the closest gas is Minit Stop in Laupahoehoe and we didn't have the gas to get there! Many people might have need to do some driving after a disaster. Of course they don't want to be stuck.

As for store preparation, again people have shopping cycles and if you, say, happen to be a weekend shopper, then on Friday night you may not have a week of groceries. For my part I had been gone a couple days and was not out of food but in need of a store run. I agree it is good to have some staples stored up, but not everyone has the money to have a lot more food in the house than what they expect to eat. A "power outage" food stock is different than regular food stock. No need to be judging. People can't be shopping and buying gas every day as if they won't have the chance tomorrow; that's not realistic.

[Carey]

For those of you that are feeling let down, esp those that were up at the stores stocking up, are you really thinking that you are prepared for what this island can offer? Have you thought through all of what the predicted tsunami could have done????

I am not sure most of the people living here really realize how crucial and thin our island supply chain is.... if both of our harbors are put out of service, little things like all of our shipped supplies, including the diesel we need for the lions share of the electricity is not coming, take out the two tsunami zone airports for a few weeks, and we are really in a mess....

It was bad five decades ago. Now think of how much more most of us on this island are tied to the umbilical cord.... heck, most everyone of us on this forum can only BE here because of all of the supplies that must be in place for our communications....

Catchment is great, but most of the systems on island need a pump to work (with any convenience... just think of hauling water for a month or more...) very few are so off grid that they do not have some lifeline...

BTW: there is hardly any backup storage for our electric grid (day-days time frame)... ports out, no diesel scenario becomes bleak for many and the wonder of it is that the grid is all controlled by a computer control center... even with some non-diesel load capabilities, with our current island wide drought, we would have been looking at water as being THE crucial commodity. No to low pumping capabilites..

[MarkP]

A lot of people are dodging the question and preaching. Yes, Samdooby, I know exactly how you feel. How could anyone not feel curious about such an awful spectacle of nature's power? This is separate from whether it would be any fun to deal with the aftermath. It is easy to denounce rubbernecking at an accident but difficult not to rubberneck.

[dmbwest]

NOT ONE BIT >>> All good … Saw everything ( enough : ) I would like to see today about a tsunami… bay changing colors by the minute draining waters, powerful surges reversing the flow of the Wailuku, etc. and thankful for no damage. Lots of aloha and patience in town too.

6:00 P.M. walked out on Moku ‘Ola to get some air. Everything still swirling around.

Lucky we live.
aloha,
pog

[Chuysmom]

I get it Sam, all that preparation and the show wasn't as exciting as the build-up. It makes sense - it's only human to want to "observe" mother nature working. I always thought it would be cool to see a tornado like those storm chasers do. I'll bet that gets your adrenaline rushing. My adult side is grateful that no one is hurt and that property was not damaged.

A checker at WalMart today said that even though it's a bad thought, some damage would've been good for our economy because it would put people back to work fixing things. I thought that was an interesting perspective.

The best thing that happened for me today was that WalMart was nearly empty! I hate going there on a good day with the crowds and entire families attached to one wagon. Today we heard our footsteps and the aisles were bare. Apparently the rush happened before daylight and we went at about 9:30 a.m. You gotta love it! LOL


Carrie


"The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it." Galadriel - LOTR

[missydog1]

>>> For those of you that are feeling let down, esp those that were up at the stores stocking up, are you really thinking that you are prepared for what this island can offer? Have you thought through all of what the predicted tsunami could have done????

Carey, I can't speak for Sam but for myself the only let down was not seeing some small wave while at the same time totally NOT wanting any destruction. Like the others said, it's human nature when you think something dramatic is going to happen and having gotten all the adrenaline pumping to feel curiously empty when it turns out to be all about nothing. That doesn't mean I wanted anything bad to happen. Humans are complex; we can want and not want.

Well of course I didn't think that stocking up could solve all the problems, but it was all that *I* could do, to defer being in need of assistance for some days by having water on hand, food, and so forth. Times like these do drive home how thin the supply chain is. I don't know if you were watching the news, but Civil Defense asked people to stock up and try to have a week of supply on hane, so I followed instructions ... those in charge of emergency situation were asking people to be ready to get by for that amount of time. I assume that would help them get things back together the more people were holding their own.

I don't see the need for people to be berating others and dumping on others. It was a stressful situation - enough.

Kona airport is not in the tsunami zone. Actually Hilo is not either, not in the official zone. They only closed it so cars could use the runway. We also have Waimea airport. Not that I'm arguing we'd be in one heck of a mess without our harbors working.

[mella l]

quote:

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Originally posted by KathyH

Since I wasn't afraid anyone was down at the Bayfront to get hurt, I did feel some disappointment that there wasn't something, even though I sure didn't want anyone's property to get damaged. I think it's natural that after getting into survival mode, staying up all night, filling water barrels, going to the store at 3 am, and so forth - to want the stress to have been for a good reason. Had I under-reacted to the seriousness I wouldn't have felt let down.

I'd say I would have liked to see something interesting and at the same time I'm totally relieved that tomorrow will be business as usual for the islands.

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Kathy I think you have it right about being all geared up and then no place to release that energy. It does cause some let down as the adrenalin subsides.

That said I loved watching the action at Coconut Island the flux in and out across the rapids exposing the small reefs. You could see the power of water and how it moves. It was a wonderful lesson from nature, just fascinating!

I'm so happy everyone came out of this in one piece! A blessing for sure.

mella l
edited fir asq spelling

Paris London New York PUNA

[kimo wires]

I didn't do any special prepration for anything. I just stayed home.
We live with the mentality that anything can happen at any time on this rock.
Earthquakes, new fissures opening up, Lava flowing could send you running anytime.
We have plenty of food in the fridge anyway that would have gone bad in a blackout.
We are always prepared for whatever happens.
Today our cars are still emty of gas. Our catchment tank is nearly dry...whatever.

Today I'm glad nothing happened.


One Thing I can always be sure of is that things will never go as expected.

[808blogger]

This has got to be the dumbest idea that is coming out of this entire situation. I have heard multiple morons say this. How can ANYONE possibly think this way? IF that works then why doesn't the government just go around smashing everything up? heck why doesn't everyone smash things up? Its good for the economy right? Why not require every home owner to burn their house down every 5 years? imagine how well the economy will be doing if everyone is getting their houses rebuilt every five years.

quote:

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Originally posted by Chuysmom
A checker at WalMart today said that even though it's a bad thought, some damage would've been good for our economy because it would put people back to work fixing things. I thought that was an interesting perspective.

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