Due to a rare severe earthquake in Russia, a major tsunami threatened Hawaii and Japan on Wednesday. The impact is (for now) not too bad, according to the stories of two Dutch families who are on vacation there. “The children think it’s an adventure.”
Walter van Ek (37), his wife Annelies (36), and their two children, ages 8 and 9, have been on vacation in Maui since Sunday. It was located in the tsunami evacuation zone.
When NU.nl calls them, they are just back in the car on their way to their apartment, about 100 meters from the beach where tidal waves were a few hours earlier. It is exactly twelve hours earlier in Hawaii than in the Netherlands: the children are “very tired” and are sleeping in the back.
“We received the first push notifications at 2:30 p.m.,” says Walter. “You are in severe danger,” it said on their phones.
Annelies: “We initially thought: it will be a bit exaggerated, we are in America after all.” That feeling changed when the notifications kept coming and sirens went off. They asked for advice from American families in the neighborhood. “They went to high ground because they wanted to be on the safe side with their children. So we did that too.”
But where to? Walter: “The alarm system here is very good, but it is unclear exactly where the safe places are.” Eventually, the couple looked for a place near a school and a golf course, where many other locals were also sitting. They arrived there after a long traffic jam.
“We were sitting with chairs and blankets on the side of the road overlooking the ocean,” says Walter. “It was actually one big neighborhood picnic with all those local people, a pleasant atmosphere.”
‘We saw nothing’
“At the moment suprême everyone looked at the ocean,” Walter continues. “But we saw nothing.” Eventually the tsunami was delayed and only came when it was already dark in Hawaii. The first locals had already gone home. The waves in Hawaii have so far not risen higher than about 1.5 meters. There were fears of waves several meters high.
Walter and Annelies also got in the car after a few hours. “Strictly speaking, we still have to wait a few hours according to those notifications, but we see on various American government websites that the water is decreasing. So we’re taking the gamble, it looks very quiet.”
The couple is relieved that things have gone well so far, but are mainly sober about it. “For us it is just a vacation that would fall through,” says Walter. “I just spoke to one of the residents in the parking lot and he was afraid his house would wash away.”
‘East coast completely red’
Forty-year-old Tom de Weerdt and Sylvia are also on vacation with their children (9 and 12). The family has been in Japan for a week and a half and was supposed to go to Enoshima today, an island on the east coast, just below Tokyo.
“We took a train from Kyoto today,” says Tom from their hotel in Machida. That is a city near the capital Tokyo, “at a safe distance from the water.”
Unlike the Van Ek family, Tom and Sylvia did not receive any emergency notifications on their phone, but they saw the news on various websites: “Also via NU.nl, funny enough.” Then they saw a tsunami warning for the east coast on Japanese government websites. “That was all red.”
The couple decided to look for a hotel nearby, where they are now waiting. They are not bothered by major traffic jams due to the warnings. “It’s the first time we’ve been here and it’s always super busy everywhere. So I couldn’t say whether it’s busier than usual,” says Tom.
‘Everything is super well arranged’
It helps a lot that everything is “super well arranged”. On the way they were warned by officers not to go east. “If we had wanted to, we would have had to bribe a taxi driver or something,” Tom laughs.
But they don’t know how long they have to wait. For that they keep a close eye on government websites and Dutch news. “When the danger has passed here, we will still go that way.” There are no worries: “If you go far enough inland and are high enough, there is essentially little danger.”
And just like Walter and Annelies, Tom and Sylvia are sober about it. “The children find it all exciting, it’s a big adventure for them.” And if their vacation in the east does not go through at all, there is always the rest of Japan: “You lose some money on the booking, but that’s just what it is. There is still plenty to see.”
“We hope that there will be no real major disaster,” concludes Tom. “Especially for the people here.”
