Media in times of crisis!

Honestly, I hardly EVER watch television, and when I do it's not the news. I went to bed late Friday night thinking about everything I had to do Saturday. At 3:14am I received numerous phone calls from a former roommate, and I ignored every single one of them. Two minutes later when my mom called, I knew something was wrong. Immediately I turned on a local news channel to find that sure enough Chile had just suffered a major earthquake, and a tsunami was headed for Hawaii.
It amazed me how so many people would rather use media sources such as Facebook, Twitter, and even Myspace instead of picking up a phone and calling. Think about it: If you were in the middle of a crisis, or catastrophe would you run to your computer to check your Twitter or Facebook? Grant it, I know most people get Tweets and Facebook posts directly to their phones like text messages...(I however do not). Later I posted that I was okay, and that all we could do was wait it out. But I was amazed to see how many people from the mainland Facebooked me to see if I was okay, yet I only received a phone call from my parents.

I was also shocked to see how many of my peers did not take this tsunami warning serious. Many status' read "I'll be at the beach with my surfboard" or "it's a good chance to catch a good wave." I understand comic relief in times of a crisis, but other people posted that they weren't going anywhere and that there was no need to evacuate. Thankfully, nothing happened, but what about next time? Will we be so lucky, and will the community continue to stay on their toes just in case, or will the next warning be brushed off.

The television was on all day, mostly on a local news channel. Occassionally we would flip to CNN to hear about Chile and the status of the tsunami. While watching the news, I was happy to see that Skype was used. I personally love Skype, so I thought it was pretty "cool" that these broadcasting stations were using it. I personally preferred to watch the local station because we're actually here in Hawaii, whereas my family on the mainland was watching CNN. I was getting phone calls saying, "It hit, they're just waiting to hear about the damage!" And I'm here watching the local channel where the camera is pointed at the shoreline there on the Big Island trying to figure out where CNN is getting their news from. I was literally arguing with my brother that nothing happened, and all he could say was "CNN just said it hit." So, media can go a bit overboard sometimes, and the fact that so many people rely on what is said is kind of scary. The media can basically tell it's audience anything and we're so ready to just receive it without further investigation. The arguement with my brother is a perfect example, CNN said this so it must be true. Whereas, I'm actually HERE and I'm the one who was wrong. It's unbelievable!

I applaud Hawaii safety for getting everyone evacuated and to higher ground. The community responded well also. It was nice to see neighbors ditch the cell phones and just go door to door warning each other.