Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
BOX J.2
honoluluadvertiser.com
Updated at 3:51 a.m., Saturday, February 27, 2010
Residents along
shorelines told to
evacuate in advance
of waves
Advertiser Staff
Oahu oficials are urging anyone who lives in a
tsunami inundation zone to evacuate in advance
of the waves hitting just after 11 a.m. today.
Warning sirens will start sounding at 6 a.m.
“If you live anywhere in the evacuation zone, you
have to evacuate,” said John Cummings, Oahu
Emergency Management Department
spokesman. “This is a serious event. We're going
to treat this as a destructive-type tsunami.”
The last time there were voluntary tsunami
evacuations in Hawaii was in 1994.
Cummings said getting out of the inundation
zone could be as simple as crossing the street or
walking to higher ground.
He and others urged people to stay off the roads
as much as possible.
After the warning sirens sound this morning, irst
responders and Civil Defense volunteers will
start going door-to-door in coastal areas to tell
people to evacuate.
Cummings also said that there will be city buses
going up and down shoreline areas picking up
anyone who needs to get out of the inundation
zone.
The ride will be free and the special city buses
will say “evacuation,” Cummings said.
The buses will take people to safe areas where
they can wait out the waves.
People in need of the ride can lag down the
buses, and don't have to wait at bus stops, he
said.
The tsunami expected to hit just after 11 a.m.
will likely create the biggest problems in
enclosed bay areas, including Hilo, Kahului,
Haleiwa, where the waves could reach six to
eight feet, oficials said.
Along other shorelines, the waves are expected
to be less than three feet, said Paciic Tsunami
Warning Center geophysicist Brian Shiro.
He said the warning sirens that will go off at 6 a.
m. and sound regularly as the tsunami gets
closer mean that residents in tsunami inundation
zones should evacuate.
He said people should not get in their cars to
evacuate, but should walk to higher ground.
“All of our predictions and models are suggesting
the tsunami in Hawaii is going to be less than
three feet. That's not huge,” he said. “But in
places like Hilo Bay, Kahului, Haleiwa, the
tsunami is going to probably get trapped and …
be as high as 6 to 8 feet.”
He urged people to stay away from the water.
SOURCE: Honolulu Advertiser. 2010.
Residents Along Shorelines Told to Evacuate in Advance of Waves
. [Online]. Available: http://
Available: http://
the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2010/Feb/27/br/hawaii100227012.html [2010, June 29].
