Life Goes On

It is amazing to see the difference electricity make in our lifestyle. This morning feels like business as usual. Yesterday we felt like we were in the middle of a crisis. I felt like we were pretty prepared, except that we did not have enough canned food for the long haul. That would have been a problem in an extended emergency. We had plenty of water (right after the quake I had the kids fill our emergency water tanks-27 gallons!), cars both had gas, light sources and batteries were plentiful and our communications was excellent.

I found the cell sites immediately were overloaded, but I could still get text messages out (like to this blog). We don't have a landline, and in this case I wish we had one, as they were supposed to be working too. We had an AM/FM radio, which was a great source of information from KSSK (people could also listen to their streaming audion via the web). But of all those things, I was most greatful to have my ham radio. I felt in touch with Civil Defense and it was interesting to see how the hams responded to the emergency. Within moments of the quake, hams had already set up an emergency net and were taking check ins and quake reports. It was cool!

This morning it seems all is well again and we are finally able to see images from the Big Island, where the quake originated. For the latest info check out theHawaiiChannel.com .