[Dailydrool] Volcano update from Hawaii

[Val lbrewerzwick]

Aloha.  Droolers are the best.  Thank you everyone who has been contacting me about the worsening volcanic destruction on the island where we live (Big Island of Hawaii) and asking after our safety.   Kilauea has been erupting for over a month now, and in the past two,days, lava flows have taken out two communities on the southeastern coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. There have been no human casualties (one man was injured by flying rocks), but close to 600 homes have been destroyed.  Evacuations and shelters are being managed well.  Kilauea has been erupting more or less continuously since the 1980’s and the area affected is in the highest risk zone on the island for volcanic destruction (directly in the lava flow path), so that area, understandably, is not heavily populated. To  live there, a person must be a gambler at heart, comfortable with the ever present threat of natural disaster. (it is also where hurricanes first make landfall here when they do).

Droolers have been asking ‘is my family safe?’  Yes, we personally are totally safe.  The Big Island of Hawaii is about the size of Connecticut.  There is mountain range down the middle north to south.  Imagine a clock.  The volcanic activity is at 5 o’clock.  We live at 9 o’clock, 100 miles away, on the other side of a mountain. If there were no news media, folks where I live would be unaware anything was happening, other than that on some days, depending on the wind, there is a little more air pollution (though not toxic levels).

We hope the volcano will calm down soon.  But we personally are safe.  thank you everyone for asking.  Mariah and her sisters are eagerly anticipating their trip to Snoopy’s Bark Mitzvah.   Val Brewer