By Emily Younker
eyounker@joplinglobe.com
Joplin City Clerk Barbara Hogelin had planned to start a Hawaiian cruise Saturday, which just happened to be her birthday. Instead, she found herself part of an evacuation effort of most of Hawaii following warning of a tsunami headed toward the island state, said Hogelin’s daughter-in-law, Deb Irwin, after speaking with her by phone on Saturday.
Hogelin is in Hawaii with about 100 area residents participating in a cruise sponsored by Freeman Advantage, Freeman Health System’s wellness program for adults 50 and older, said Heather Collier, Freeman media coordinator.
Collier said she was told Saturday by Freeman Advantage coordinator Dee Timi that the group had been moved to higher floors in their hotel on Waikiki Beach as a precaution and were being advised to stay in the hotel.
Timi had indicated that the tsunami was so far a “non-event” in their area, Collier said.
Webb City resident Brad Baker said he and his wife, Linda Ann, who is from Hawaii, had been following news reports much of the day on Saturday.
“Based on what we’re seeing on TV, there’s been adequate warning to residents to go to higher ground,” said Baker, who lived in Hawaii for 20 years until 1999. “To our knowledge, we’re not seeing that it’s causing any panic.”
The Associated Press reported that sirens in Hawaii alerted residents of potential waves. Roads into Waikiki were closed, and police patrolled main roads, telling tourists to get off the streets. Boats and people near the coast were being evacuated, leaving empty beaches. Hilo International Airport, located along the coast, was closed.
Baker said that during his 20 years in Hawaii, he experienced one or two tsunami or hurricane warnings that resulted in evacuation.
Those evacuations are a methodical process that residents are likely prepared for because of what they experienced roughly 50 years ago, he said. A tsunami after a magnitude-9.5 quake that struck Chile in 1960, the largest earthquake ever recorded, killed about 140 people in Japan, 61 in Hawaii and 32 in the Philippines.
Particularly in Hilo, residents remember the effects of that tsunami, even having created a museum for it.
“So it (a tsunami warning) is not taken lightly, but at the same time it’s not a panic,” Baker said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
