basically rebuilt itself, being conscious of that happening. >> my final question to you. how long before rebuilding? you keep mentioning that, but before things can get back to some normalcy. >> i think it is too early to answer that. right now they're just getting into many of the areas because major roads and major bridges that connect the country from north to south are gone at this point. so there is no way to really give you an idea of that. >> we're so glad you're safe and we thank you so much for taking the time. we know you're running the network over there, cnn chile, rolando santos, senior vice president of cnn chile, joining us by telephone in the middle of that earthquake when it hit. thank you, rolando. for people in hawaii, it has been a day of watching and waiting for tsunami waves. when they finally arrived they didn't live up to their early billing. cnn's thelma gutierrez found herself in the middle of an evacuation this morning and she's on the big island of hawaii. we'll talk to her in moments to find out how people were preparing there. they were scared. her words exactly. meantime, an emotional reopening