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Tsunumi Warning.

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by Captcruz, Feb 27, 2010.

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  1. Captcruz

    Captcruz New Member

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    Pacific nations gear for tsunami‎ - 2 hours ago
    People in the Galapagos and on Easter Island have already taken refuge. ... Tsunami warning systems have been improved since December 2004 when
    an ...

    I have a very good friend on relief on Yacht Plan B who is now in Galapagos and or heading for Easter Island. My sincere thoughts and prayers that everything will be ok and safe for the yacht and the people of the Galapagos.
  2. Yacht News

    Yacht News YF News Editor

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    So an actual Tsunami is on the way across the Pacific? I assume associated with the 8.8 Earthquake off Chile?
  3. RER

    RER Senior Member

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  4. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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  5. PropBet

    PropBet Senior Member

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    Recent word from friends in Hawaii reports a 'non-event'
    5 and 6' waves at Diamond Head. "Normal day in paradise" per him, other than the sirens going off from 11PM last night until this afternoon.
  6. Dan Evans

    Dan Evans Senior Member

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    We are in Hana right now on the Eastern point of Maui. The house I am staying at is about 15 feet from the water and also happens to be one of the lowest homes on the street at about 3' above the water. We were told to leave this morning by the Hana police because they were expecting 12-15' waves. (last night was our first night here) we left for higher ground until about 1:00 pm when we returned. The largest waves on our beach measured 5' and washed rocks, wood, coconuts and worms onto the street and up our driveway. The rental cars don't like driving on washed up lava rocks...
    Our thoughts and prayers go to the families who lost so much today.

    Dan
  7. Yacht News

    Yacht News YF News Editor

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    Well PropBet, it is better to be safe than sorry, or prepared than not! I'm sure in 2004 those people in the Indian Ocean wished it was a non-event.
  8. PropBet

    PropBet Senior Member

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    Indeed YN.
    My friends on the big island said there was quite a bit of activity in evac. and so on, but as far as water / waves / etc. it was a non-event.

    Better safe than sorry is always a good rule of thumb. It rarely fails.
  9. wscott52

    wscott52 Senior Member

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    And now some people are whining because it was a false alarm. Probably the same people who if they lost everything in an actual tsunami would be whining, "No one told us what to do!".
  10. Emerson

    Emerson New Member

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    False alarms have a cost too. You cannot be "on" 100% of the time, and while this alarm had no direct cost, next time one goes off people will be less inclined to evacuate and if it's worse then people will die. Being the one who sounds the Alarm is a loosing proposition, it's very difficult and doing it wrong does damage.
  11. wscott52

    wscott52 Senior Member

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    I understand false alarms. I lived for 20 years under threat of hurricanes in St. Croix and Florida. I've spent all day putting shutters on my house to try and make it safe only to have the storm veer at the last minute. I didn't whine because the Hurricane Warning was false, I was thankful my house was unhurt. Most people I've known from Alaska were pretty self reliant and understood that ultimately you are responsible for your personal safety.
  12. Emerson

    Emerson New Member

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    The thing about that analogy is that after the storm veered away they didn't keep the are evacuated. They should have been telling people to stay off the beeches and out of estuaries, Running the sirens all night the night before was doubtlessly overkill. They knew within hours that it was going to be a minor problem for the rest of the pacific, they should have responded as if it was going to be like they knew it was going to be.
  13. wscott52

    wscott52 Senior Member

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    You have a point. I'm sure to the bureaucrats involved it was a CYA type of situation. As you said, being the one responsible for issuing the warning is a lose-lose type of situation.
  14. PropBet

    PropBet Senior Member

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    You're never going to make everyone happy.
    Once you realize that, you and the world get along a lot better.
  15. Henning

    Henning Senior Member

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    One of my engineers just got back from the Phillipines, said they had some loss of life as the surge came up the rivers and estuaries as that's basically where all the squatters make their home/camps.