The Tsunami Countdown (11 page)

10:33 a.m.
49 Minutes to Wave Arrival Time

K
ai called Rachel himself this time. He needed her to know how dangerous the situation was, especially because what he was
telling her sounded so improbable. “It’s good you didn’t have Brad call me,” Rachel said. “I’d think it was a joke.”

“I know this sounds crazy, but it’s what the data are telling us.”

“An asteroid? I can’t believe it.”

“I know. But if I’m right, nobody is safe in that hotel.”

“What about the Starlight restaurant on the twenty-eighth floor? We’ve got lots of room up there.”

“Rachel, even if the wave doesn’t reach that high, the building might collapse.”

“But we have over a thousand guests staying in the hotel! Not to mention a ballroom full of disabled veterans.”

“You’ve got to start evacuating them now. Do you have any buses for them?”

“I had some scheduled to pick them up and take them to the cemetery for the ceremony this afternoon, but they’re not supposed
to be here for another hour.”

“Look, it’s at least a fifteen-minute walk to a safe zone from there. That means you’ve only got about thirty minutes left
to get everyone out.”

“That’s not enough time—”

“Rachel, the tsunami doesn’t care if it’s enough time. That’s when it’s going to get here, and anyone left in the hotel after
that time won’t make it.”

Kai could hear a pause while she tried to accept what he was telling her.

“Okay,” she finally said. “Where should they go?”

“They should use one of the west bridges off of Waikiki and then just head uphill until they can’t go any farther. The best
would be for them to try to get up to the Punchbowl or into one of the hillside neighborhoods. If they aren’t safe there,
I don’t know where they’ll be safe.” The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known locally as the Punchbowl, was an
extinct volcanic crater holding vast rows of veterans’ graves. The sides of it were over four hundred feet high.

“What about Lani? What about Teresa and Mia?”

“I haven’t heard from them. I’m sure they’ve heard
the warnings and are heading to high ground as we speak.”

“Then why haven’t they called?”

“The phone lines are jammed. I’m lucky I got through to you. Plus, Teresa’s phone battery is dead. She probably doesn’t want
to stop and call us from a landline until she’s safe. Which is the right thing to do.”

“Okay. But let me know the minute you hear anything. I better get going. I’ve got a lot of people to evacuate.”

“Rachel, promise me you’ll be walking in thirty minutes.”

“I promise that as soon as I get everyone out, I’ll get out too.”

“If you don’t get out before that, you’ll be stuck in the hotel. There won’t be time to get to safety between the waves. They’re
too big.”

“I understand that, Kai, but I am responsible for these people. I have to do my job.”

“I know. Go do it. And, honey, I love you.”

“I love you too,” Rachel said. “I’ll see you when this is over.”

She hung up. Kai stared at the phone, hoping to hell that she was right.

Rachel immediately got on her walkie-talkie.

“Max, come in.”

“This is Max. Rachel, are you watching the TV?”

“No, I’m up in the ballroom.”

“They just issued a new tsunami warning. But now they’re saying—”

“They’re saying it’s going to be a lot bigger, and they’re telling us to evacuate the hotel.”

“So you are watching it.”

“It doesn’t matter. We’ve got to evacuate.”

“I was having problems just getting people to go back to their rooms. We’re swamped down here in the lobby.”

“I know. You’ve been sending the guests with rooms on the first, second, and third floors to the Wailea Ballroom, right?”

“Yes, that’s the procedure.”

“Not anymore. Go up and tell them to leave the hotel. They should head up Kalakaua Avenue. Then have them go up Manoa Road
to Woodlawn.”

“Woodlawn? That’s got to be at least three miles away.”

“I know. That might be far enough inland.”

“Are you kidding?”

How many people are going to ask me that today?
Rachel thought.

“I’m not kidding,” she said. “Just do it.”

“Okay, but how do I convince the guests? Some of them have asked me where the best place to view the tsunami is.” Max paused
for a moment. “What if we set off the fire alarm?”

“I thought about that,” Rachel said, “but it might make people more confused. They might think it’s an alarm for the tsunami
and stay where they are.”

“Then what about the people already in their rooms?”

“First, spread the word to the staff that we’re evacuating the hotel. Then, after you’ve informed the guests in the Wailea
Ballroom of what’s going on, take as many of the front desk staff as you can spare and go room to room to make sure people
know to evacuate.”

“What if they won’t?”

“We can’t force them to leave, but make sure they understand how dangerous the situation is. Remember, my husband works at
the PTWC. If he says to get out, we’re going to damn well do it.”

“And what about you?”

“I’ve got five hundred guests in the Kamehameha Ballroom. I don’t leave until they do.”

10:35 A.m.
47 Minutes to Wave Arrival Time

H
onolulu had forty-eight minutes, but the Big Island had only eleven minutes. Renfro knew that many on Hawaii wouldn’t be able
to reach safety, especially if they hadn’t already started to evacuate, but they had to try. And they had one advantage that
Christmas Island and Johnston Island didn’t have: the Hawaiian Islands were built by volcanoes, so they were very steep. If
people walked quickly or ran, they might be able to get to a safe height. Renfro realized that every second ticking away was
precious. The governor was still on her way, but he couldn’t wait even the last few minutes it would take for her to arrive.
He would have to make the new announcement himself from the broadcast booth.

By this time, several others on staff had made it in to help him out. But there were still only six of them, so he
gathered them around to give the most important briefing of their lives.

“Okay, here it is,” he said, his voice shaking. “In eleven minutes, a massive tsunami will hit the south tip of the Big Island.
In a little more than thirty minutes after that, Honolulu will be hit. I will be updating the warning immediately after I’m
done here.”

One of the new arrivals, Chet Herman, spoke up. “Shouldn’t you wait for the governor—”

“No. She’ll make another announcement later, but it’ll be at least fifteen minutes before she gets here and has a script in
hand. As it is, we basically have to write off the Big Island. Nobody in this room should spend any more time on it.”

There was murmuring at that.

“I know it seems heartless, but I don’t think we have enough time to coordinate anything from here. They’ll have to take the
warning and do their best. We’ll concentrate on Oahu.”

Some of them nodded. With this kind of crisis, the objective was to save as many as possible. Eighty percent of the state’s
population was concentrated here. There was still time to accomplish something on Oahu.

Renfro had no idea whether people would pay attention to the new warning. The previous plans that had been broadcast were
now useless or, even worse, dangerous. If
the populace didn’t listen to his instructions, thousands would needlessly die.

Cathy Aiko raised her hand.

“What do you want me on?” she said.

“Cathy, you need to call all the hotels and get them to evacuate the tourists. Vertical evacuation is out of the question
at this point.”

The newest hotels and office buildings were constructed to withstand anything that was within the reasonable realm of possibility,
including resisting 150-mile-per-hour hurricane winds with no more than a slight sway. The lower floors would allow the water
from a storm surge or tsunami to pass through the building and blow out the back wall, so that the water pressure would not
put undue structural stress on the load-bearing systems.

But no building was built to bear the impact of a twenty-story wall of water. For a wave that tall, the structure would have
to survive fifty thousand tons of pressure, the weight of one hundred fully loaded 747s. Most buildings would simply collapse
when the lower floors buckled, if they weren’t completely torn apart. Fleeing to a higher floor would be no refuge.

The obstacles to getting the population to safety in such a short amount of time were too numerous for Renfro to address.
After his announcement was made, many roads would become completely jammed with vehicles, despite
their pleas to flee on foot. The traffic would make it that much more difficult for emergency vehicles and buses to evacuate
those who couldn’t walk.

Which led to the next problem: evacuating low-lying hospitals and nursing homes.

Renfro pointed at the last newcomer, Thomas Kamala. “Tom, you coordinate with The Queen’s Medical Center. They need to get
everyone out. They might have a little more time. They won’t be hit until we get a third or fourth wave. Make sure Tripler
is ready for them. You also need to alert all of the nursing homes.”

With over five hundred beds, The Queen’s Medical Center, located next to the Capitol building in downtown Honolulu, was the
largest medical facility on the islands. Many ICU patients and premature babies would be on life support, not to mention the
surgeries that were under way. They would all have to be moved to Tripler Army Medical Center, which thankfully sat on a small
plateau northeast of Pearl Harbor. The patients who were not critical would have to be moved by bus, along with nursing home
patients who were too feeble to move on their own. Others would have to be moved by helicopter.

The military presence on Oahu would be especially helpful in this crisis. The fleet of Army, Navy, and Air Force helicopters—as
many as could get off the ground before the first wave arrived—and the numerous commercial
helicopters on the islands would be pressed into service to evacuate the hospital patients and others who couldn’t get to
safety in time.

“Michelle, you’re in charge of coordinating with the military. Get the bases around Pearl evacuated and get as many aircraft
into the air as you can. We’ll need the helicopters badly, I’m guessing. The other planes can go up to Wheeler.” Wheeler Army
Airfield was in mid-island Oahu. Not knowing exactly how big the waves would get, even Wheeler might not be safe, but it was
the only option.

“Ronald, you’re in charge of the airports, Honolulu International in particular. Even though the Kahului Airport is on the
north side of Maui, it’s also in danger because the wave will wrap around the island. You need to get everyone out of the
airports. If there are planes all ready to go, get them in the air. But they don’t have time to start boarding. We don’t want
to have them standing on the runway when the wave gets here.”

“What about the planes coming in?” Deakins said.

“If they don’t have the fuel to turn back to the mainland, they need to land at Wheeler. I don’t want anything landing at
the commercial airports after ten minutes from now.”

Renfro got up, and except for Chet Herman the group dispersed.

“What about me?” Herman said.

Renfro paused. The equipment in the broadcast room
was designed to be easy to use, but he still needed to have someone operate it while he was on air. The current warning was
on a loop, and he would have to break in.

“I need you to help me with the broadcast,” Renfro said.

Renfro seated himself in front of the camera and clenched his hands tightly on his knees. He nodded at Herman, who hit a few
buttons and then pointed at Renfro. The red light on the camera came on, and Renfro began the announcement.

“Hello, I am Brian Renfro, duty officer at Hawaii State Civil Defense.” He cleared his throat. “A tsunami warning has been
issued for the entire Pacific, including the Hawaiian Islands. I am here to update that warning. The Pacific Tsunami Warning
Center now has clear evidence from a deep-sea buoy that a massive tsunami is headed toward Hawaii. When it makes landfall,
the tsunami is expected to be over eighty feet in height. We have lost contact with Christmas Island, and we know that a huge
tsunami has hit Johnston Island. At 10:45 a.m. local time, the wave is expected to make landfall at the southern tip of the
Big Island. It will hit Oahu and Honolulu at 11:22 this morning. The wave arrival times for the other islands will be scrolling
across the bottom of the screen. If you are listening to this on the radio, the arrival times will be broadcast at the end
of this announcement.”

He took a deep breath to steel himself for what he would say next.

“Larger waves may follow. Again, there is a strong possibility of multiple waves, and the first wave may not be the largest
wave. The biggest wave could reach over two hundred feet in height. Therefore, we are urging all residents of the Hawaiian
Islands to immediately leave their present locations and evacuate as far inland as possible. If you are already in a seagoing
vessel, do not return to shore. Get as far out in the ocean as you can.”

At this point, he decided not to mention the asteroid. Without proof, he couldn’t be sure that people would take the warning
seriously if he told them that an asteroid strike had caused the tsunami.

“If you have evacuated to the upper floors of a building, you are
not
safe. Please leave the building immediately and walk to high ground. Only those who are incapable of walking should take
vehicles.

“Please do not panic. If you begin to walk now, you will have time to get to high ground. When we have further information,
we will broadcast a new warning. But do not stay by your television. Take a portable TV or radio with you as you evacuate.
Authorities will be assisting the evacuation.

“Good luck. That is all.”