Quake: The Day After

Downtown Kona, above, the day after a magnitude 6.7 quake offshore of the bike course shook the Hawaiian Islands. Following is a report from friend and fellow Calgarian Hal Kuntze, who with dozens of other triathletes, was heading out for a training swim when the earth shook. (Ironmanlive.com photo)

Okay, as far as race journals go, today's submission might be the the most
unusual I will ever make.

I got up at 5:30 am to have bite and then head down to the pier for my
morning swim. I was meeting a few folks there at 7.

We got to the pier, chatted for a couple of minutes about a shark sighting on
the course ( 10 foot tiger shark ) then put on our goggles and headed down the
steps at Dig Me beach. it was 7:07 am. Cat Brown had just dove into the water
and I was about to follow.

Suddenly I heard a loud bang/thud and a ton of shaking and back and forth. I
turned and looked at the pier. The light standards and hydro poles were
swaying crazily in both directions, the buses parked on the pier were
swaying wildly back and forth to the point of looking as though they would tip
over. Leaves were falling from trees, people were crouched down and half
shrieking. It lasted only a few moments.

I have never been in an earthquake before so I was not immediately sure what
happened. I thought that maybe something hit the pier and shook the ground. I
figured it out in a hurry. We all stood and looked at each other with a half a
smirk - you know the one - it was a what the hell was that smirk.

so the story goes on. We exited the water and regrouped. We were given the all
clear and went on our swim. Bad decision. Cat turned at 1000 m and I carried
on to about 1500 m. At that point I sat up for a moment. It was very wavy this
morning. I needed to find the marker I was swimming for. Once stopped I heard
a whistle repeating over and over again. I turned around and a kayaker was
paddling hard toward me. I looked around a realized that there was not one
single other swimmer within 800 meters of me. He told me that I needed to head
to shore immediately due to a tsunami warning ( again, I was 1500 m from
immediate ).
I asked if he was going to paddle with me and he said, no chance. He was
heading in. Yikes. He
reassured me that it is just a warning, but not an alert. The early warning
system was not working. I hammered back thinking all the way on what I would
do if a big wave came.I had decided that I would dive under. I breathed on
that side only all the way home, keeping a close eye for walls of water.
I had just watched the discovery channel broadcast on the asian tsunami last
night.
We all made it back okay. The water, normally
clear, was completely cloudy. Likely sediment shaken loose from the tremors.

Once out, I found out that the walmart roof had sections that were collapsed,
the hospital sustained serious structural damage, all the hotels were
evacuated and were not letting people back in, the safeway had a section that
collapsed and hurt some people, there were landslides and general problems. No
power for a while either. the stores are mostly still closed. Power is back
on. The governor has issues a state of emergency but called off the tsunami
warning.

My condo looked like it had been ransacked. Lamps were on the floor, pictures
were off the wall, bookshelves were tipped over, bike was on the ground,
dresser drawers were open. The lady next to me is from California and she said
that is the worst she has ever seen. The People at the complex said they could
actually see the ground roll and then shake back and forth. It felt so weird.
Apparently the epicenter is only 10 miles from here in Kailua and it
measured a 6.6 .

Some landslides occured near Kawaihae Harbor over the bike course and at the
captain cook monument, but nothing
too serious in that regard. Lots of people with cuts and bruises from objects
falling on them.

We had another shock at 11:30 while out on the run. it was more mild. ( 4.2
apparently ). everything here is still on emergency status. Lots of rocks on
roads and seawalls collapsed. so far they have been about a dozen aftershocks
but they are mild.

Other than that, training is going well.