Tensions as high as a Samoan Tsunami or not

Aloha,
Today I was working on Maui about a mile above the Grand Wailea Resort on some electrical substation equipment and roasting in the relentless and windless heat.

Then it started, apparently Samoa had a large earthquake out at sea and my Tsunami Alerts started coming in to my phone.
Living on an island where Tsunamis, also known by some as tidal waves, is something to pay attention to, tsunamis wrap around an island like Maui and not just the side they come from. Most of the alerts don't amount to much. Quite a few have come out of the Malaysia to Japan region and seem to be in the area of at least a 7 on the Richter Scale, but again, at least for Hawaii, they don't amount to much.

About the time I got the 1st alert, I started getting a text from my daughter's Mom about my daughter thinking she should leave work and pick up my grand children from school.
Her Mom asked me "What was my Tsunami plan." My response was that "I would head for the Grand Wailea, order their most expensive drink and meal and hang out by the pool and hope it wasn't a false alarm and end up having to pay for it."

As the alerts continued to come in, it was apparent that Hawaii was not in any danger, but as a precaution the State and County closed the beaches until the next morning. I guess they weren't to confident in their forecasting.

Once again, the alerts turned out to be no threat to Hawaii and judging from all the tourist still at the beach, no one was too worried about it.

Hawaii has had a few Tsunamis over the last 100 years and some, including one on April Fools Day, did do quite a bit of damage.

The threat of a Tsunami in Hawaii is not something to take lightly, but with the technology and warning systems we have in place, we do generally have time to react if it looks like it will hit. In General, it seems like the ones that come from the Alaskan area are most feared.

Unfortunately, most of Maui's power generation, tourist resorts and commercial zones do fall within the range of a big Tsunami. So if one were to hit, the results could be pretty disastrous and being so far in the middle of the pacific makes moving towards a more Sustainable Maui even more important.

So in my opinion it's not so much an if, but when scenario and so our moving in the direction of becoming self Sustainable is an important issue we can't drop let the ball drop on.