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KAILUA-KONA — The earth shook in faraway Japan, then the warning sirens rang here in Hawaii. Within hours, the tsunami reached our shores, and days later, the clean-up, repair and recovery efforts are just getting started.

But what happened before all that?

Friday’s events were set in motion long ago. Rules written at various levels of local government determine what can be built near the ocean, where structures can be placed, and how they should be designed to minimize the threat from coastal flooding — a threat that can never be totally eliminated.

Many of the homes and business damaged by the early morning waves — particularly on the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii — were built in the inundation zone, some just feet from the ocean.

Brent Smith of said Tuesday was the first day the Keauhou Bay company was open after massive waves filled the equipment-filled store to its brim. His store is across a parking lot from the ocean, and is just a couple of steps above sea level.

Next door, snorkel and scuba sailing company lost half of its two-story shop to waves, with a floor-to-ceiling opening where a wall had once stood.

Phil Prisby said he and the rest of the Sea Paradise crew took its boats out to sea for 13 hours during the tsunami warning and listened to the radio through the night. Only after the all-clear signal did they return to shore to find gear and trash strewn everywhere.

Half of the Sea Paradise snorkel tour shop was destroyed when tsunami waves hit Keauhou Bay on the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.

Where to Build — Shoreline Setbacks

Oceanfront parcels — everything from the single-family homes knocked off their foundations near Kealakekua Bay in South Kona to the upscale Four Seasons Hualalai Resort on the Kohala Coast that will be closed until the end of April — are subject to that doesn’t allow construction within a certain distance — 40 feet in most cases — of the certified shoreline. That line is defined by the highest wash of the waves, and is often determined by finding debris and vegetation. Of course that line doesn’t reflect extreme events, such as a tsunami.

Landowners can ask for a so they can be closer to the shore if adhering to the full setback would limit the build-able area of their land or otherwise present a hardship.

“Usually things are not allowed to be built in that 40-foot shoreline setback area unless there’s a really good reason for it,” said Hawaii County Planning Program Manager Bennett Mark.

Those requests aren’t always granted. When the Kailua Kona Village Development Group — the owner of the and other Alii Drive shops — asked for a variance in 2005 to build an outdoor seating lanai on the ocean side of the Hang Loose Bruddah Bar and Grill, the Hawaii County Planning Department recommended denial because the restaurant had survived without the lanai since it was opened in 1978, records show.

It’s not clear if that lanai was ever built, or what other variances were requested in that nest of shops. The area was closed to the public Tuesday as crews worked on clean-up and repair.

Construction near the ocean also could trigger a Special Management Area permit “to determine whether there are any environmental problems that have come up as a result of the proposed development,” Mark said. Determining the shoreline can be part of the process.

But the Planning Department is more concerned about preserving shoreline access and protecting the environment than protecting developers.

“From the Planning Department’s point of view, if you’re outside of the 40-foot shoreline setback, and you get the proper permits, then you can build,” Mark said.

He suggested it might be a good idea to change state law to create an increased setback for properties where the shoreline is variable due to a high rate of erosion, citing a proposal by Coastal Hazard Mitigation Specialist Dennis Hwang of the University of Hawaii’s Sea Grant program.

But last week’s tsunami ran hundreds of feet inland in some places, according to reports. Changing to a 60-foot or 70-foot setback wouldn’t be a silver bullet.

“Very little can protect you from a hurricane or a tsunami,” Mark said. “You can never protect against something like that.”

Tsunami waters come over the seawall fronting Alii Drive in Kailua town on the Big Island.

What to Build — Base Flood Elevation

The Planning Department gets to decide where developers can build, but it’s the Department of Public Works’ Building and Engineering Divisions that has to make sure those developments are designed to be safe — even in the face of tsunami waves.

Engineering Division Floodplain Manager Carter Romero said the basic feature of the building code in the coastal zone is that the elevation of the structure must be above the base flood elevation. That’s essentially how high the water would be in a tsunami scenario.

“All the horizontal framework has to be at or above that expected flood level,” Romero said. “Anything that’s below that has to be breakaway, so that basically the wave action doesn’t grab onto something that’s gonna act like a big sail and rip off the support of the structure above.”

The ground floor — or anything that would be hit by water in the event of a flood — cannot contain residential areas. The ground floor can include parking, storage and access areas, for example.

The King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel was among the hardest hit properties last week. Its Kona Beach Restaurant was lost to the waves, carpet needed to be pulled up and the bottom section of its walls was torn up on much of the ground floor.

But guest rooms were unharmed, and breakfast, lunch and dinner were being served poolside Tuesday even as the section of Alii Drive leading to the hotel was closed for repairs. Forty pieces by artist Herb Kane were unharmed, as was his mural in the lobby.

King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel Sales Manager Alana Yamamoto shows Civil Beat the areas of the lobby that were spared from tsunami damage.

The iconic “King Kam” was built long before the current system was put in place. The rules were adopted by the county in 1982 under the National Flood Insurance Program, created by the federal government after providing assistance to victims of natural disasters proved to be costly.

“We’ll help you rebuild, but if you guys are gonna be stupid and are gonna be building the same way and in the same place, then we’re not going to help you,” is the way Romero summarized the program. “It’s to save life and limb, and the other component is to save the structures.”

The county uses to determine which parcels are subject to the rules, which are laid out in [pdf].

Asked if the rules on the books today helped protect properties from damage, Romero said they did.

“After seeing what happened, the newer the buildings, the better they performed. That’s basically it,” he said. “I didn’t see anything new that took a beating.”