If you haven’t already heard a 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit the Hawaiian Islands yesterday. The quake’s epicenter was located about 10 miles off the Kohala Coast (on the western side of the Big Island of Hawaii) and about 50 miles from my parent’s home. Luckily, their house sustained only minor damage and no one was hurt.
Once I was able to establish contact with my parents and found out that our family members were fine I immediately thought about all of the travelers who undoubtedly got more from their Hawaiian vacation than they bargained for. Not only did they get jolted out of their beds at 7 a.m. Hawaii time, but most of them (staying on the islands of Maui and Oahu) spent the rest of the day in long lines at either the airport or on the street trying to purchase necessities from convenience stores–both of which did not have power.
As it happened my aunt and uncle were among the unfortunate visitors left to spend their last day in paradise enduring the stench of overflowing toilets (no power meant automatic flushers were rendered useless), massive crowds (many frightened visitors fled their hotels and headed straight for the airport thinking they could catch an early flight home), and hunger (no electricity meant restaurants couldn’t serve customers) at the Honolulu International Airport.
After 17 hours sitting on their luggage, power was finally restored to the airport and they were able to board a flight home. They were one of the “lucky” ones considering the majority of travelers are still stranded on the islands of Hawaii, Oahu and Maui. Some flights on the mainland were affected as well since the aircraft for some flights were positioned in the wrong cities following the spate of earthquake-related cancellations.
In Waikiki, hundreds of visitors traded spending time in lines at tourist attractions to line up outside convenience stores for food, water and other supplies. Managers were letting tourists into the darkened stores one at a time. Once inside, workers escorted them through the aisles with flashlights. I’m told some stores only accepted cash and rang up purchases with paper and pen. On a lighter note, Lappert’s Ice cream shop at the sprawling Hilton Hawaiian Village handed out free ice cream rather than let it melt.
My brother, a firefighter stationed on Oahu, spent his morning rescuing stranded tourists from elevators that froze when the power was cut off to hotels. He also told of the many hotel guests who were forced to make their way down darkened stairwells helped only by the lights from their cellphone screens.
It may have not been the way visitors to the Aloha State wanted to spend their Sunday, but if you think about it, things could have been a lot worse.