Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL HomeAre Tourists Prepared In Case A Tsunami Strikes?

Are Tourists Prepared In Case A Tsunami Strikes?

by: Paul Drewes

(KHNL) - Those of us who live in Hawaii are reminded of potential hazards, like tsunami, every month with siren soundings. But for many of the visitors in Waikiki, they may not have thought of destructive waves during their time in paradise.

Thousands are prepared for the sun, sand and surf of our islands. But not all are prepared for the possibility of a tsunami.

"I never heard there was a tsunami in this area" says a visitor from Italy, Ruggero De Maria.

"Wasn't there an earthquake on Maui recently? So an earthquake flashed thru my mind but a tsunami, no." says California visitor, Jaycie Coburn.

Thousands of visitors are here each day, but some may have trouble figuring out where to go if a tsunami is on the way and the sirens sound.

"I would try to get as far inland as i could but I don't know how far is enough." says Jean Duran, a visitor from Chicago.

But rather than try to get everybody "out" of Waikiki. Evacuations under a tsunami warning would go vertical.

"We're going to have to get people out of Waikiki and the quickest way is to go up rather than go out." says Peter Harai, with the Department of Emergency Management.

People would be moved up three stories in buildings that have six floors and above.

Most concrete reinforced buildings in Waikiki are expected to withstand a tsunami, something officials here in Hawaii witnessed in the deadly Southeast Asia tsunami.

"We saw that in the Southeast Asia tsunami, the guests that went up survived in these structured buildings." adds Hirai.

The last time Waikiki needed to be vertically evacuated was during the tsunami warning in October of 1994.