I have been writing about my life as a tourist for almost two weeks now. The theme today automatically chosen as packing the essentials for your journey....
Last night a 8.9 level magnitude earthquake hit Japan, triggering Tsunami warnings across the Pacific. Before I go further, we were lucky in Hawaii, albeit not know it at the time. Please send your heart to Japan where hundreds have been killed and hurt.
I have never experienced anything of this magnitude of fear. I had just attended a conference earlier in the week, one piece focused on natural disasters. With the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina running rampant in my mind, the potential that this could be reality set in. Around 9:30 last night, after preparing to go to bed, I received a phone call from my friend Melissa, "There is a tsunami warning for Hawaii for 2:59 AM." I did not know how likely this was. "Are you in an evacuation area?" I had no idea, but I did know we lived across the street form the ocean. I asked Anthony if we should evacuate, he said "I am staying, if it's my time to die, I'll die." I did not know if he was joking or was realistic. He asked our next door neighbors about their plan. "Don't worry this happened last year, we're staying." Yet I couldn't feel confident in that solution, especially with my Hawaiian friends texting me about the necessity to evacuate. I stayed on the phone with Melisssa for as long as I could, I felt bad because she was alone and had nowhere to go. I told her I would call her back, little did I know the phone lines would not be working. Anthony and I had to make a choice what to do.
We chose to evacuate.
But what to pack? Melissa scared me on the phone, with talk of going to the grocery stores. Since I recently watched the hurrican Katrina videos, running through my head was the potential damage that was going to occur. We lived on the 15th floor across the street from the ocean. Would it be a mere flood? or knock over the whole building? I immediately grabbed my airplane carry on bags and began filling them...
1st the dogs-their food, toys, water, treats, blankets, leashes
2nd our essentials-snacks, juice, toiletries, underwear, several items of clothing, shoes
3rd my valuables-phone, camera, computer, external hard drive, journal
4th extras-game, book, makeup
Anthony was going to pack all of his cookbooks, but just brought one. His was neatly fitted together, where my items seemed to explode out of their bags. Somehow we did it in less than twenty minutes. Some people have no time, we did, but it still seemed rushed. I threw items all over the house, racing for what was necessary. It's hard doing this, with Anthony yelling "Why did we move here?" and "only bad things happen here." Now what?
10:00 pm hit and the first sirens went off, warning the inhabitants and current waikiki tourists to evacuate. i thought of my friend angela who i met with earlier that night, sadly saying "i am going to miss paradise," as she talked of her next morning's flight to la. she text me that night, she was seeking refuge on higher ground. i must be scared. this is real.
each hour until 300 am the sirens would blast anywhere on the island.
Where would we go? We assumed we would go to a co-worker's house who lived farther away from the water, but we could not call or text her. We brought ourselves, dogs, and our "valuables" down 15 floors (luckily the elevator was working). As we loaded our car, we saw neighbors entering the building, as we were leaving. "You are not going?," we asked. "I have nowhere to go."
Our car was filled with doggies, blankies, and things, as we drove with minimal gas, but our destination was only several miles away. Yet when we came to her house, no lights were on inside. Anthony agreed to sneak in the yard to peak if lights appeared. None. Anthony said "I don't want to wake and worry her already, since her husband is already deployed." So we drove, but no gas. We had no idea where to go, so we needed gas just in case. But everyone had that just in case mentality. And so at 11:00 pm, we waited in line to fill our gas tank full with $3.89/gallon of unleaded gas. The line was long, because people were not just stalking up on gas but on munchies.
I was lucky enough to briefly catch a voicemail from my friend Pam saying herself and Echo (who had both been repeatedly calling and not getting through) were headed to a friend's house in the St. Louis Hills, back the other direction from where we lived and above the university. We had no plan, I did not know the area we were in now. I had vaguely knew St. Louis Heights, driven to that house twice, did not recall the address, but felt i would "just know" the house when I saw it. So we drove off of a hunch, with no plan in sight.
every corner we turned, anthony would ask where we were going. I just knew by landmarks, and drove in circles until we landed on top of this hill/mountain of homes overlooking "town." I found a street that looked familiar to the one this girl lived on "Bertram." Almost vertical drive up the road, I did not see her car as the street was long. I didn't remember the house. So we picked a spot and sat, for 4 1/2 additional more hours.
For a brief ten minutes we each called our immediate family members, updating them of our scenario and reminding them of our love for them, "just in case." Sometimes this was just done in voicemail, but if anything happened we knew our last words to them would be love.
The dogs thought it was an adventure. We don't go for many rides in Hawaii. They finally soothed each other, by cuddling their noses together, but were awakened each hour by the sirens.
I tried to catch up on as much sleep as possible, though I was clogged up with allergies, and some tsunami fear. I generallly don't have problems sleeping anywhere, so this was fine. Anthony on the other hand, sat restless, played rummicube on his phone, was locked to facebook, and listened to music.
Every thirty minutes we put on the radio to hear updates, but after awhile the updates stopped. 2:59 then 3:07 passed. nothing happened. It was not safe yet to leave I thought. I drifted back to sleep.
How did we know to leave? It was when the radio station switched to pure reggae. If the verbal updates are done, and we are jamming to Bob Marley, than we must be safe.
It was 4:00 AM, generally I leave for work at 6:30 AM. This was going to be fun.
We drove home, unpacked our belongings. Anthony apologized for being uptight. I apologized for catastrophizing, but in reality when a potential crisis is near, how else do you react?
I slept briefly and drove to work. My phone was still dysfunctional and had no other choice. When I arrived everyone was already here, including my 7:30 patient. Throughout the rest of the day, as I listened to others' problems. How do you function with helping others when your sleep is minimal and you are still dealing with the shock of last night? I thought of the conference I attended earlier that week, which focused on emergency first responders and my heart went out to them.
I never thought I would be in that situation, where you must choose your bare essentials, the threat of everything being destroyed. The panic, fear, run of emotions, and acceptance of all you can do. And yet we were so lucky, nothing happened. Anthony questioned if we should have even gone, but in evacuation procedures you cannot chance it. You cannot go back in time. You must act fast.
The reality is we never know what natural disaster may strike, all are vulnerable in some way...Tsunami, earthquake, tornado, volcanoes, blizzards, mudslides, hurricanes, fires. Can you ever prepare?
I deeply am grateful for my friends, family, and acquaintances across America who showed concern for our well being and kept us in your thoughts and prayers.
And now my heart and the world's heart goes out to those in Japan and their loved ones. You are in our thoughts and prayers.
