I guess when you live on an island, 20 ft above sea level, sometimes you're at risk for certain natural disasters. Last Saturday we got to see actually how prepared we were for emergency situations.
Friday, February 26, 2010
11:30pm- Noticed a tsunami advisory for the Hawaiian Island on the Internet thanks to the earthquake in Chile and went to bed. Thought nothing of it. (When the big earthquake it American Samoa the other month we were also under tsunami advisory and I didn't even know about it.... In other words, advisory=no big deal.)
Saturday, February 27, 2010
4:30am-Dave gets phone call from his dad (Thanks Dad) and confirms the now Tsunami Warning for Hawaii with the Internet
5:00am-Dave wakes me up, I want to stay in my pajamas like I had been planning on doing.
5:05am-I wander around uselessly while Dave pulls out our "under construction" 72 hr kit to see what we're lacking
6:00am- First tsunami warning sirens go off
6:07am-We get to Foodland (along with half of Laie) to grab the things we were missing (We needed water... of all the stupid things to NOT put in a 72 hr kit!)
7:00am- Second tsunami warning sirens go off, we hear it while we wait in line at Foodland (the store if very crowded)
8:30am- Car is packed, picked up our friend, Elise, and head for higher ground
9:00am- Meet our neighbors up by the Water Tank in the jungle behind BYUH campus. Set up "camp" and eat an entire loaf of French bread
10:15am- Talk about what would get us first--a white polar bear or the smoke monster
11:20am- Take a short walk to where we could see the ocean and the pending danger
11:23am- Sit on a very steep, cement road in the sun, listen to the radio
11:35am- Tsunami arrival prediction time for Oahu comes and goes... no tsunami
11:39am- Hear reports of water receding in the bays on the Big Island from the tsunami, no reports of massive waves of destruction... yeah!
11:40am- National news broadcasters disappointed that it wasn't going to make a bigger story
12:04pm- Hear reports of water receding in Pearl Harbor. Could see absolutely nothing from our vantage point. Try to take a nap on the steep, cement road.
12:30pm- Head back to our "camp" and wait until we were given clearance to head home (thought it could be up to 6-10 hours)
12:46pm- Thought crosses my mind, "Am I really going to break open one of those cans of green beans and eat them cold for lunch?" The answer came quickly, "No, Wendy, not yet... that is why you picked up Ritz crackers and easy cheese at Foodland this morning."
12:47pm- Take a hike into the jungle to find a nice "bush"
1:00pm- Settle back into a camp chair and put my feet up to wait out the rest of the day. I'm not even going to say how swollen my legs and feet were at this point.
1:05pm-Friendly chatter with the neighbors and friends. Felt just like we were all on a picnic having a great ol' time, not on an evacuation.
1:30pm- Listen to the radio for the All Clear. Yes, these little emergency radios are useful. We have 2 and we used them both. (Both were gifts from our parents from the last couple Christmases.)
1:42pm- All Clear given on radio, pack up our camp
3:00pm- Arrive back home safe and sound. No damage done.
Lesson's Learned:
It was easier to evacuate being 8.5 months pregnant than it would have been with a newborn.
If the earthquake would have been on the Big Island, not in Chili, and we would have had 30 minutes, not hours to prepare, well, we would have been very thirsty and without a change of clothes.
Stick with your friends and family and look out for each other during times of great stress. If you're patient, the whole situation will go a lot smoother.
Don't live on the beach.
Cute, smiling boy in his new pack'n'play bed from Aunty Britney and Uncle Richard. His Lion shirt matches the lions on the thing.
Found this Aloha shirt in a bag of used baby clothes that someone mysteriously left on our doorstep.
Daddy gives Baby J a bath ONCE and we take pictures. I give him a bath every other day and it's just another daily chore to be done.
