An Unfortunate Disaster


After looking at photos of Japan I am grateful we only sustained a little damage by comparison in a small tsunami that struck Friday morning. I forget how powerful nature can be until something this catastrophic happens- it's hard to even comprehend the destruction in Japan.
That's why I thought West Hawaii Today's headline, "It's Total Devastation," was a bit overstated even if it was a quote from a cop. Besides being kept awake by tsunami sirens all night I was not even inconvenienced by the waves that hit our coastline. However, I sure feel bad for the businesses and homeowners that have a lot of cleaning up to do, or lost their homes entirely. If the waves had been much bigger I'm afraid my workplace would have been swamped, so I'm grateful it was spared and we even got a newspaper out on time. Read today's local tsunami coverage and see photos or post your own on our newspaper's website.

An amazing You Tube video someone took at Kailua Bay.


A shopkeeper cleans up his store in the King Kam hotel after wave action cleaned him out.


King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel just finished a two-year renovation. Now their beautiful restaurant is filled with rubble.

A bulldozer cleans up busted concrete by the Kailua Pier seawall on Alii Drive. The ground was littered with debris from stores and restaurants: bags of Kona coffee, tables, bathing suits. etc.