Tsunami Advisory on Hawaii

I'm privileged to be spending a long weekend in a beachfront home on the gorgeous island of Kauai with some good friends. We were having a perfect evening with some food, drink and conversation when someone mentioned the news of a major earthquake off the coast of Chile.

My heart stopped because my parents are traveling in Chile at the moment and I didn't know exactly where they were. I dug through an e-mail from them and through Google Maps discovered that they'd be a good 2500 kilometers from the epicenter right now. My brother, who is based in Quito, Ecuador, was able to confirm with the hotel in Putre, Chile, that indeed mom and dad are fine.

Then there's a second scare. The quake triggered a "tsunami advisory" for Hawaii. The TV stations here are displaying banners to alert us to it. The local phonebook provides guidance on what to do when the tsunami alarm sounds and where to go. We went to the 24 hour Safeway in Kapaa to buy some extra water, just in case. (Nobody else was there at midnight on Friday.)

This tsunami advisory may be nothing, however there was a tsunami in Hawaii before, back in 1960. That tsunami caused damage and killed people in Hilo. That tsunami also was caused by a quake off the coast of Chile. We will have to see what happens to the alert level and what the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center tells us. Let's hope the wave doesn't show and that tomorrow will be a day in paradise, like any other. Meanwhile, we're planning a hike up a mountain, just in case.

Meanwhile, my thoughts go out to everyone in the affected areas of Chile, including my colleagues in Santiago at McAfee Chile.