A little shaken and a little wet, but everyone's ok!

Last week was some week to be here in Hawai'i (that's why I went to Tucson).
Monday: 5.4 Earthquake
Tuesday: Hurricane Watch
Wednesday: Tsunami Watch
Thursday: 4.4 Earthquake.......

Last weekend hurricane Flossie had formed over the Pacific and was heading towards the islands. Meteorologists predicted that it was going to veer off South of the Big Island and pass some 200 miles South and that due to the cold waters of the Pacific it was going to be a tropical storm by then. So, given this forecast I decided to go ahead with my already planned trip to Tucson.

Monday as I got off the plane in Phoenix I had two voicemails in my phone, the first one from Charlotte telling me that Flossie had ignored the meteorologists forecasts and that it was not slowing down as much as they had predicted and that it was now looking like it could hit the South point of the island..... the second message was left four minutes later by Charlotte again telling me that an Earthquake had just shaken the house and that a painting had fallen off the wall shattering the glass (our only damage from the earthquake) and that the girls had "really freaked out".

Tuesday classes were called off to let people plan and organize for Flossie. Kept checking websites to see where Flossie was and with Charlotte to see what was going on, but nothing, apparently just some rain (we always get some rain in Hilo, hurricane or not), not even strong or mild winds for that matter. Flossie ended up passing about 100 miles South of the island and down to a category 1 storm.

Then the big earthquake hit Peru, and that was what triggered the Tsunami watch in Hawaii. It wasn't long before they called it off and figured out that the earthquake had not generated a tsunami. The two last big tsunamis that have wrecked havoc in Hilo were caused by earthquakes in Alaska and in Chile. So they take that seriously. Earlier in January when an earthquake hit Japan a tsunami watch was issued as well. They have buoys all across the Pacific so when an earthquake hits they can measure the effect it has on tidal waves and that way they can either confirm or call off a tsunami watch.

Our house is waaaaaaay out of the tsunami evacuation zone, so we don't have to fear for house damage by tsunami, but earthquakes and hurricanes is a different story. This time around neither one caused any damage other than the broken painting. the way houses are built here ("kind of flimsy" according to Sydney) is what makes them put up with earthquakes so well, they move a lot, but that is good.

So how often do we have earhtquakes here you may ask...well since the 5.4 earthquake on Monday, there have been 37 other earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 1.1 to 4.4 (that is the other one that woke Sydney up, the other 36 weren't felt by anyone here in the house). You can get an earthquake update at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (http://tux.wr.usgs.gov/Quakes/quakes0.html) . Here you can see the map of where they hit. Most of them are down by the Volcano National park area, and it makes sense, for that is the place where all the volcanic activity is happening. But please, don't let that discourage you from coming to visit, as Charlotte explained to the girls, more people die in Arizona every year due to heat exposure than people here from earthquakes.......

So thanks to everyone who called to ask how we (or C & the girls) did with the week, everyone's ok, the girls still a little scared of earthquakes.

Oh, by the way, Tucson was HOT and humid (104!). I would've rather stay here and deal with earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis! but, it was good to see friends down there!

Aloha!