• Sign holding • Tsunami warning Sign holding Hundreds of Kauaians turned out Thursday to show their support for efforts to combat the sale and use of the drug “ice” on Kaua‘i. The sign holders lined roads and highways across
• Sign holding
• Tsunami warning
Sign holding
Hundreds of Kauaians turned out Thursday to show their support for efforts to combat the sale and use of the drug “ice” on Kaua‘i. The sign holders lined roads and highways across the Island and sent a signal out to our government officials that they are behind them in their actions to “bust” ice houses and in taking steps to end this tragic trend on Kaua‘i.
Mayor Bryan Baptiste and his administration, the Rev. Roy “Rocky” Sasaki and other organizers of this islandwide event are to be congratulated on accomplishing their goals in staging the sign holding event, which was modeled on similiar stands taken on O‘ahu and the Big Island.
There were signs of hope yesterday, with stories of courageous parents who are helping their addicted grown children recover from ice addiction, and news of new ways ice addicts can find help on Kaua‘i.
Comments being heard from those involved in the ice battle on other islands in Hawai‘i are encouraging. Some say the statewide drug summit held recently by Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona was modeled in part on Kaua‘i’s series of drug summits held across the Island.
Let’s hope the strong support for the war on ice wasn’t a flash in the pan, and that the community will continue its resolve until this battle is won.
Tsunami warning
News that a tsunami might be on the way to Kaua‘i’s shores was sobering news at mid-day Thursday.
The last major tsunami to strike Kaua‘i came in 1957, with two smaller ones hitting in the early 1960s, and another major one striking in 1946. This high rate of incidents happening over 40 years ago, in a compressed time period, points out the fact that we have become in part complacent in regards to the threat of a tsunami striking Kaua‘i’s shores.
The good news is the excellent tsunami warning sytem that is in place across the Pacific Basin. If a tsunami had been generated by yesterday’s major earthquake of northeast Japan, it would have hit at about 5 p.m. The early warning system – made up of special tsunami-sensitive buoys located at key spots in the Pacific – let Hawai‘i officials know by just after noon that no tsunami was on the way. Our Civil Defense agencies in Hawai‘i are also much better prepared to respond to such disasters.
Decades ago there were few signs that a tsunami was on the way, and the toll on property and life was high in Hilo on the Big Island and in some sections of Kaua‘i. Thankfully, we are not picking up the pieces today from a disaster, though we need to continue to be vigilant to this threat which shows up much quicker than a hurricane.
