Maybe Prayers Really Work

March 16, 2010 Tuesday

Following the massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake which rocked Chili on February 28 of this year I, along with many others, grieved for all the impacted population. I thought how helpless they must have felt to have faced such giant devastation without any warning. I also felt helpless to not be able to assist the survivors immediately.

Then my thoughts turned to the tsunami danger which had been created and unleashed by this earthquake. I wondered how bad the tsunami would be and where it would go. Would Hawaii be hit by another deadly tsunami? It was natural for me to think along these lines since I have spent a great deal of time in Hawaii through the years on business or vacation. During my visits there I made friends with people who had lost family members during past tsunamis. Every time I would hear the horns blaring in the monthly tsunami drills I would look out at the Hilo harbor and remember the people who had perished there.

So I was in front of my TV watching the live reports from Hawaii and praying that the tsunami would not be so bad and that everyone would managed to evacuate before it arrived. Maybe prayers really work because most of the tsunami waves which hit Hawaii's shores were less than 3 feet and not deadly. Hawaii got really lucky and dodged a natural disaster bullet.

The state of Hawaii deserves to be congratulated for a job well done related to the evacuation of their citizens. Almost everyone was asleep in bed when the first warning sirens sounded. Still in just 5 hours between 40 to 50 thousand people had evacuated to high ground, buses had collected the homeless population from beach areas and transported them to safety, boats and ships were moved to safer positions, and critical supplies had been deployed should they be required. Could the mainland states do as well? Once again I am praying that we could.

Additional evacuation information available at www.wineandchocolateplan.com