Dear family and friends. As you have heard, an earth quake near the Chilean coast caused a tsunami. We got word late last night that a tsunami was going to hit the islands late this morning. By 7:30 this morning, all radio and TV stations had gone to emergency weather mode, and everyone was urged to stay off the roads, keep phone and Internet use to a minimum, and stock up on staples, especially water and batteries. The forecast called for the ocean to rise up to 12 feet. For those of you who don't quite understand how a tsunami works, let me explain, the way it was explained to me this morning. A tzunami is not one tall wave that comes ashore. A tsunami is a series of high tides. At first the ocean retreats, and then rises, much like a high tide, but much quicker, with much greater force, and much higher. This might happen a dozen or more times, depending on the strength of the earth quake. It is usually the 3rd, 4th or 5th wave that causes the most damage. Fortunately, the tsunami forecasters were wrong. Instead of waves up to 12 feet, the highest was 6 feet at the Maui harbor. In Oahu, the ocean only rose 3 feet above normal. By 1:30 this afternoon, the governor officially announced an all clear. I had three tuning appointments this morning. When I got to each customer, they had the TV on, so I was able to keep up with the events. It was very interesting to watch the events, and talk to my customers. One of them was in Hilo in 1961 when that city got hit with the tsunami from the Alaska earth quake. She was a mile from the water front, and remembered seeing the waves come in, covering palm trees and destroying everything in it's way. We sort of dodged the bullet with this tsunami, but the news stations report that this was a good test, because all the civil service, police, and rescue operations were able to put into practice what they've been rehearsing. Thank you for those who asked about us. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician 94-505 Kealakaa Str. Mililani, Oahu, HI 96789 808-349-2943 www.Bleespiano.com Author of: The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com 94-505 Kealakaa Str. Mililani, Oahu, HI 96789 808-349-2943 www.Bleespiano.com Author of: The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100227/1f2ff60a/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC