All OK in Japan?

[CA Dreamer]

Just hoping any one in Japan or with family there is ok? 8.9 earthquake with tsunami following it tonight.

[littlekiwi]

just saw that on the breaking news tonight and there is even a tsunami warning for NZ too

[Leontine78]

We've seen some footages on internet....wow, water is fast.
I hope everyone is OK!

[NeverendingJen]

watching the news, so devastated. I hope everyone is safe and checks in soon. I see that the tsunami warning is now even reaching the west coast of the US and South America even, not to the extent of in japan, but still . Everyone stay safe!

[SweetMelissa]

I had no idea that anything happened until I saw this. I did a quick net search and wow. Once the kids go for a nap I'm going to turn the news on. Friday is there morning to watch tv.

I do hope that everyone is okay!

[Valgal]

I was just reading that Hawaii is bunkering down and that the west coast is on alert too.

[Keely~B]

The footage has been incredible. My heart goes out to all in harms way. It's just devastating.

[dana]

such horrible news ... i've been away from the TV all morning too, but have seen pics, etc on the internet

[Shawna Clingerman]

Is our Kellie some where near Japan?

So scary we were looking at footage just astonished today!!!

[Giseli Freitas]

I hope everyone in Japan right now stay safe.

[JenTapler]

Hawaii evacuated coastlines. We stayed at our house - we're about 1.5 miles inland. My Mom is about 100 yds from the ocean and Civil Defense came to her house at midnight and she had to evacuate. She came to our house in Kahului. We did have a Tsunami here. Local news reports are saying Kahului had the largest surge, which was more than 6 ft (our gauge in Kahului only measures to 6 ft) and it came inland at least 1/4 mile. They said there is "Unquestionable damage" in Kahului, but they won't know the extent until after sunrise (it's still only 5:30 a.m. here and dark). We are continuing to have surges about every 15 minutes and probably won't get the "all clear" for several hours. There is lots of damage at the marinas and harbors.

Schools have been closed tomorrow (today? Friday), Kaiser clinics (where I work) are all closed on all islands except the urgent care clinic on Oahu, state and county offices are closed, no bus services, all airports are closed.

Harbor damage for us would be BAD - all of our supplies (food, goods, etc) are shipped to us via boat. If boats can't dock, we can't get these items. We also don't have oil refineries here so all of our gas is shipped in.

So we are all still waiting on pins and needles to see what the rest of the morning brings. I just heard a news reports that the water is still receding very far and then surging back in - so things are STILL happening here 2 hours after the first wave / surge. The last large Tsunami we had like this lasted all day, so it's going to be a very long day in Hawaii!!

But fortunately Hawaii was VERY prepared - sirens started blasting about 4 hours before it hit and blasted every hour. They started evacuating immediately. There might be damage, but everyone is safe!

It has definitely been a very long, stressful, sleepless night!

[LoriJ]

Oh, Jen, how scary! I am glad you and your family is ok so far. Hopefully the damage wont be too severe.

[Julie Billingsley]

oh this is just so sad

[kscwgirl]

I'm so glad you're okay Jen.. I was just looking at pictures from Japan.. and wow... just... i have no words.

Hope Kellie is okay.

[joelsgirl]

Thanks for thinking of me, Shawna. Makes me feel all warm and toasty.

We were under a tsunami watch, but our island is protected by the Philippines, so we didn't get hit. We live across the street from the beach, and they were sending people home last night (it's usually totally packed on a Friday night). They were trying to keep people away from the coast because they were expecting huge waves.

The footage is so terrible. Everytime I watch a video and see a vehicle swept away, I think how terrified that person must have been to see that wave coming at them. It's so heart breaking.

[Leah]

Originally Posted by joelsgirl

Thanks for thinking of me, Shawna. Makes me feel all warm and toasty.

We were under a tsunami watch, but our island is protected by the Philippines, so we didn't get hit. We live across the street from the beach, and they were sending people home last night (it's usually totally packed on a Friday night). They were trying to keep people away from the coast because they were expecting huge waves.

The footage is so terrible. Everytime I watch a video and see a vehicle swept away, I think how terrified that person must have been to see that wave coming at them. It's so heart breaking.

Glad you're okay Kellie.
Praying for all those people.

[Inkspots]

I'm not too far from Yokohama. All is well here. Lots of rocking and rolling, but I haven't felt anything since last night. Our power was out for several hours, but we had no damage. I was shocked to hear that the quake was as big as it was. It just went on for what seemed like minutes, but I never would have guessed it was that big. Keeping everyone in the north in our thoughts. The images from there are just horrifying.

[JenTapler]

Just thought I would re-post this here in case anyone is interested (posted a few minutes ago in the Babe forum).

Thanks again everyone! It's definitely been a trying 12+ hours!

So things seem to finally be settling down. We don't seem to have any major damage on Maui. There is some minor damage, but mostly it's just a HUGE mess out there! The latest local reports are saying the largest of the Maui surges was 12 ft. The Big Island also had this large surge. Oahu and Kauai were much smaller. The water came inland quite a ways into town in Kahului (where I live) - about 1/2 mile - and there was some flooding. Mostly now just lots of mud and debris on the roads. Our sewer system on Maui did overflow, so I'm not sure what that will mean? The Big Island did have some major damage with several homes being destroyed and a few homes being completely swept into the bay by the surging water. It's definitely good that they did the evacuation and that the people in Hawaii are so prepared for this and take it very seriously - if they hadn't evacuated there definitely would have been people killed.

Here are some photos from Maui (I did not take these photos, they are from our local news website):

These 2 show the still hugely surging water more than 3 hours after the first waves hit - very scary!:




These are in town, about half a mile from the harbor:

[Leah]

Originally Posted by JenTapler

Just thought I would re-post this here in case anyone is interested (posted a few minutes ago in the Babe forum).

Thanks again everyone! It's definitely been a trying 12+ hours!

So things seem to finally be settling down. We don't seem to have any major damage on Maui. There is some minor damage, but mostly it's just a HUGE mess out there! The latest local reports are saying the largest of the Maui surges was 12 ft. The Big Island also had this large surge. Oahu and Kauai were much smaller. The water came inland quite a ways into town in Kahului (where I live) - about 1/2 mile - and there was some flooding. Mostly now just lots of mud and debris on the roads. Our sewer system on Maui did overflow, so I'm not sure what that will mean? The Big Island did have some major damage with several homes being destroyed and a few homes being completely swept into the bay by the surging water. It's definitely good that they did the evacuation and that the people in Hawaii are so prepared for this and take it very seriously - if they hadn't evacuated there definitely would have been people killed.

Here are some photos from Maui (I did not take these photos, they are from our local news website):

These 2 show the still hugely surging water more than 3 hours after the first waves hit - very scary!:




These are in town, about half a mile from the harbor:

Oh Jen...thankfully you and your family are okay. Thanks for posting.

[mrshobbes]

There were tsunami level 2 alerts up at our entire eastern coast, but as of late last night (i guess the morning for most of you) they were lifted. Manila's on the opposite side of it all, thank goodness. I know there were tsunami alerts for NZ, Australia, and Guam even. Seriously, this whole thing is just making me think the world can be much smaller than I think sometimes. Who knew an earthquake in Japan/Asia Pacific could spawn a tsunami that would reach Hawaii??

[JenTapler]

I know! It is a very small world Lex!! And interestingly, one of the largest and most devastating Tsunamis we've had in Hawaii (it destroyed the entire downtown area of Hilo on the Big Island) was triggered from an earthquake in Alaska!! Crazy, huh? And our last one, last February, was triggered from the large earthquake in Chile.

[nesser1981]

I was stationed in Japan back when I first enlisted up in Misawa, so about 150 miles north of Sendai. Its amazing that they're reporting no damage to the military bases.

[CA Dreamer]

Originally Posted by JenTapler

I know! It is a very small world Lex!! And interestingly, one of the largest and most devastating Tsunamis we've had in Hawaii (it destroyed the entire downtown area of Hilo on the Big Island) was triggered from an earthquake in Alaska!! Crazy, huh? And our last one, last February, was triggered from the large earthquake in Chile.

Jen, I was worried about you this AM too. I have family on Oahu and Maui. We had some damage today in the SF Bay area too.

[Ginger_79]

It feels so weird to read this post at the moment. I've been so shocked and touched by all the pictures yesterday. But now I come here after the nuclear catastrophy, I wonder why nobody talks about it and realise: You guys are probably all still sleeping and will find the news when waking up. There was a big explosion in Fukushima, seems the nuclear reactor has burst.

I cannot tell you how deeply shocked I am, how sorry I feel for the people there. And it really it just too strange wondering, how many of you even know yet.

[sevenupps]

I'm glad you posted Jen, I've been wondering about you too! Be safe, and I hope you won't have problems getting the essentials you need!