earlier this morning. now tsunami warnings are a concern across the pacific basin. we have them up and down with the exception of chile now because the wave has moved on, moving on to places like hawaii, where that s an area of concern because they ve been sounding sirens for the past 20 minutes to alert coastal residents to evacuate to a higher ground, basically, for the next six or ten hours while they await for this tsunami to arrive in that area. we have an affiliate on the ground there from khon. gina, are you there? can you describe the scene for us? is it choreographed chaos, everybody acting okay? reporter: so far, so good. i m at civil defense headquarters up in diamond head, if anyone s been to honolulu. you heard the sirens on the air a moment ago, certainly an unexpected wake-up call, although we re as rehearsed as we can be out here in hawaii. we have monthly tsunami alerts much like that as practiced, and
population of course with us in waikiki. that will be of primary concern as well. families here in hawaii try to practice disaster preparedness as much as possible. we live in a hurricane area, a constant watch for tsunamis as well. what are authorities telling tourists right now or is that up to the individual hotel or resort they may be residing in? sure. the siren would have been heard all the way through waikiki loud and clear, and that s ordering folks to go ahead and get those tvs on in their hotel rooms. if they have a mandatory evacuation of the beaches, they will go up and down the beaches, fire, lifeguards, fire rescue and such telling people to be sure to get off. and that will happen about two hours prior to? if they determine from the buoy readings, the wave readings, if they determine that s what needs to happen, yes. all right. sounds like things at least right now are under control there on hawaii. gina mangieri joining us from khon. thank you very much, gina.