Jim,
I had the recent somewhat surreal experience of going through the Hawaiian costal evacuation during the most recent tsunami alert. It was a near-miss natural disaster scenario that unfolded in slow motion because of the distance from the Chilean earthquake and the presence of tsunami alert sensors and monitoring officials. There are a few observations that I’d like to share.
I managed to stay ahead of the Golden Horde phenomena by a few hours and it was interesting to just acknowledge some of the predictable elements: most people were not alerted to the risk of the tsunami until 0600 when the civil defense sirens went off. The gas stations and grocery stores were subsequently mobbed and quickly were depleted of supplies. For the most part people were civil with each other but there were some conflicts despite the local radio hosts admonitions to “remember people, love, love, love — aloha”. I think the conflicts were minimal because this was a “potential” disaster only. The costal highways of course were packed. Look at a map of Maui and you can see how egress from many of the more densely populated areas is limited to a single road (right on the coast).
The other folks who were up with me at 0200 beating the crowds tended to be folks with increased “situational awareness”. For example, I talked with a guy that had worked for the powerplant and knew that it was in the inundation zone and was threatened. This also included the main airport and of course the harbors. He currently works for the public utility and also knew that water and sewage pumping stations would be: a) turned off in expectation of the tsunami surge and b) out of commission if the island took a big hit. In a place where everything has to be shipped from somewhere else, it didn’t take much imagination to realize that 120,000 inhabitants and 60,000 tourists could be quickly SOL for services and supplies.
All of this was of course to be expected. Somewhat more subtle revelations include:
-Even if you are going to Hawaii for your 25th wedding anniversary a preparedness awareness and travel kit are in order
-Consider the potential threats in your travel destination. For example a hotel room could be selected not just for the view but with the knowledge that in a tsunami you can vertically evacuate to above the 3rd floor, trying to balance with concerns for fire, or earthquake (these are volcanic islands of course and while there we also got to experience the Vog – volcanic smog, coming from the big island).
-When we arrived we didn’t “need” anything more than a compact car – but it turned out to be prudent to have rented a vehicle with extra cargo carrying capacity when suddenly I was packing cases of water and food and supplies for potential camp out for multiple days
-It reminded me that the being in a state that disallows for conceal carry and personal/ family defense is not just a quaint ideological or cultural shift, but has potential real implications
-I was lucky in that I was up late enough to get the earliest tsunami warning reports. If it weren’t for the Olympic coverage on television (which I normally would not be watching), I too would had my first awareness of the situation at 0600 with the rest of the clueless. It taught me that in your travel environment, (or home for that matter) some kind of monitoring of news and or civil defense sources is a good idea.
| -One shouldn’t rely on the hotel or your other hosts for timely prep or information — they still had their maintenance folks sweeping sidewalks just off the beach as part of their tsunami prep.
-We had selected a hotel room outfitted with a kitchen and this really helped when it came to taking essentials for cooking and cleaning, (as well as self defense if you count a 10″ chef’s knife)
-Civil Defense plans and their orchestration with local agencies was pretty good – but: a) a lot of sirens that were supposed to did not go off, and there were “gathering points” for evacuees that had no supplies (food, water, etc) because this was not part of the plan. Obviously the civil defense planning has not yet included secure power and water supply systems either. Your travel situational awareness might also include taking in the strength and weakness of governmental agencies and infrastructure. This now goes on my travel checklist.
I feel very lucky to have been able to watch and learn from all of this without having had to experience a full blown catastrophe. The process is going to light a fire under my tail to get going with my preparedness plans and to give all of them some needed hard reflection.
Thanks for all the education I have already received from SurvivalBlog. – B.P.S.