| Subject: Tsunami September 29, 2009 |
Author: Tim Jones
Date: 9/29/2010 1:31 pm NT
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The September 2009 Tsunami was a tragedy, a disaster and a fiasco all rolled up in one. Firstly, for those who lost loved ones, nothing else matters. You suffered the greatest loss and no amount of money or other government assistance will change that. I felt the horror run through me when 93 KHJ radio said they were going off air as the water was rising past the second story window.
My own home was on high ground. I was safe.... but friends and family? Phone lines were jammed. Communications and power— cut off. For many of us, our horror ended after a few hours when we finally got through to our loved ones. But for others, your horror became real and life long. Maybe you have made peace with it and maybe you haven't. On September 29, 2010— all our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Being and engineer and someone who understands physics to some degree, Id like to point out something that I don't understand and still baffles me today.
That Tsunami was so big and so powerful, it should have killed half the population of this island. The majority of residents live close enough to the sea that a wall of water 15 plus feet high would be the end for us all. Nearly our entire main road runs along the coast. Every inch of it, within striking distance of a tsunami half that
size. One hour later would have been rush hour and killed thousands on the road, most with nowhere to go. Nowhere to run. Just massive destruction.
The timing was another thing. One or two hours earlier, everyone would have been sleeping and killed where they lay. The Tsunami came exactly when people were awake and not on the roads. The timing was a near miracle.
One last Miracle, was that the tsunami completely missed some villages. The tsunami seemed to choose which village to hit and which ones to miss. That seems impossible but how do you explain Leone being wiped out and Vailoa untouched? Two beach front villages side by side... both completely exposed... one destroyed and the other missed.
And this was the same case all around the island. Complete
destruction of one village and yet right next door, untouched. The Pago Plaza building, the ASPA Utility and the Ship yard suffered nearly absolute destruction while the Yacht Club, Scanlan gas station and Sadie's by the Sea- were almost untouched. Was this the hand of God? Or is there another explanation?
Numerous scientists, preparedness experts and government leaders have zeroed in on the one thing that did make a difference: education and awareness. As reported in the media here and elsewhere, the local Department of Homeland Security was out in the coastal villages just days and weeks before the tsunami, dispensing vital information about
tsunamis and what to do when the earth quakes, and the sea recedes.
ASDHS were conducting workshops and classes in Tula - a village which resides at absolute sea level - just a week or so before the tsunami. Working closely with the DOE, the village mayor and churches, they had been very clear about the steps to take to avoid being a victim of a tsunami.
And in Tula village, which was inundated, not one life was lost. That has been directly attributed to education and awareness campaigns on the part of local authorities assigned with the responsibility to help the community prepare.
The same held true in Poloa, where an entire school was destroyed- Taputapu Elementary. The teachers and staff had been made well aware of the steps to take by the outreach programs of the ASDHS working in conjunction with DOE. Not one student or staff of Taputapu Elementary was hurt that day— because the staff knew exactly what to do when the
earthquake hit.
That tsunami could have killed more than 30,000 people. It was a monster that caught a major population of coastal living islanders 100% by surprise. It had the size, speed and power with no warning. It was a recipe for disaster that this island hasn't seen since the days volcanoes made this land come out of the sea.
On Sept 29, 2010- the one year anniversary-, let the ones who lost friends and family feel our hearts. And for the rest of, be thankful in the deepest way you know how, that the losses our community suffered didn't see numbers into the tens of thousands like it very well could have been. In my life time, I will be forever grateful for that. |
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Tsunami September 29, 2009 |
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Tim Jones |
9/29/2010 1:31 pm NT |
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