Anonymous, January 03, 2014 4:03 AM
Bubba Links
Baseball Links
Terrible tragedy in Japan today. The media are reporting that the earthquake was 8.9 on the Richter scale, but a scientist who was just on CNN said it will probably be upgraded to 9.1. Holy guacamole. That is massive. Good thing Japan is so prepared for earthquakes and tsunamis, or it would have been much, much worse.
Hawai`i was hit by a tsunami. There have been a lot of false alarms lately, but this wasn't one of them. It wasn't as bad as in Japan, but waves were 6' or higher. (One report said the water reached "the top of the port-a-potties.")
My hometown suffered "minor but widespread" damage. My parents were jolted out of bed by the tsunami warnings. They are way up the mountainside, so in no danger.
This is the Kona Pier, in normal times:
And here's the pier during the tsunami:
Here's Alii Dr., sort of the main drag, in normal times:
And here's Alii Dr. after this morning's tsunami:
And here are a couple of photos of debris and even a house floating in Kealakekua Bay. (The bay is usually very clean, because it's a marine conservation area.)
