From disaster are born heroes

When the ground slipped beneath them, many turned to helping others

THE EARTHQUAKES that shook the Big Island a week ago today triggered more than cracked walls and tilted homes.

The natural disaster also evoked a ripple effect of people reaching out to help each other.

When the ground stopped moving, the safety of family, friends and neighbors was the first thought of many residents. Here are a few stories from the hardest-hit areas:

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When Raymond Yamasaki's home slipped off its foundation and wedged the front door shut, he called a fellow church member and said, "I'm sorry, I can't get to church to help with refreshments because I'm stuck in my house."

Then Yamasaki, 64, and his wife, Gertrude, 59, got a hammer and busted open the front door of the house he had built 33 years ago just off the Malamahoa Highway in Waimea. They ran over to check on his mother, Pat, who lives next door.

The 86-year-old was OK, but her hot water heater was leaking gas. After getting his mom safely outside, Yamasaki scurried down the driveway to see if his neighbors Hubbs Stevens and Donna May were OK.

They were unharmed, but trapped inside their home by debris that had fallen in front of their sliding glass door.

Yamasaki removed the stuff and got the couple out. Stevens immediately went with him to help turn off his mother's gas. Then the two patched water and sewer lines that had broken when Yamasaki's house slid off its pier-and-post foundation.

"I was thinking, you know, of necessities," Yamasaki said. "Water, and then sewer."

Stevens said he never questioned whether he'd help: "They're our good neighbors, and everybody helps out all the time."

Soon a stream of cars was coming down the driveway. Most members of Yamasaki's Friday night Bible study from New Hope Church in Waimea had just been told by their pastor of the Yamasakis' plight at a shortened Sunday service.

Genevie Pilayo said she and her husband, Chad, didn't hesitate to go directly to the Yamasaki's house from church, even though they had broken glass and other damage at home.

The men helped Yamasaki jack up the house and stabilize it with wood and cement blocks. The women helped clean inside, Pilayo said.

"Uncle Raymond is always there for us," Pilayo said. "He has a very, very big heart, so any way to help him is a blessing for us."

When the helping families had the Yamasaki place under control, they returned to their own homes to clean up. But the mutual helping wasn't over.

Yamasaki heard that some of his friends didn't have water at their homes, so he called them all back to his place for a late-afternoon cookout of hamburgers.

"They came back and grilled out," Yamasaki said. "We could laugh about it all.

"I want to tell them all thank you. They really showed me what it is all about in fellowship."

A HERO'S WELCOME If you know of someone who went out of his way to help others during the earthquakes and power outages Sunday, tell us about it. Send us an e-mail at quakeheroes@starbulletin.com and include information on how to call you if we need to find out more about what happened.