Tsunami!

As some of you may have heard, there was a 7.7 magnitude earthquake off of Tonga last week, which put Fiji under tsunami warning.

I heard about the warning from Peace Corps Office here in Fiji, just as I had boarded a boat to travel to the next island over to teach at the school. Luckily I had just enough time to hop off the boat and walk back up the 102 steps to reach my house, which is at a safe elevation above sea level. I let everyone on the boat (mostly young kids going to school) know why I was getting off, but left left it to the adults' judgement whether they should do the same. I didn't want to force my opinion on them, as sometimes Peace Corps advisories are very overprotective, and I wasn't sure if this was one of those.

However, when I reached my house, I turned on the radio to find tsunami warnings on all stations (we even made BBC world news!) , advising all coastal dwellers to go to higher ground. They didn't even bother saying don't travel by boat, because you'd think that was common sense... Then, I felt a little bad about letting a boat full of children travel. The projected arrival of the tsunami (if it was to come at all) wasn't for another few minutes, so I was hoping the boat would reach its destination by then. Then, they made the announcement that all government buildings and schools would be closed. And then, only a few minutes later, the tsunami warning was lifted.

A few minutes later, the school kids came running down the hill, singing and playing, to the village. I like to think that the warning was lifted before their journey back... but, I like to think a lot of things in this country!

I must admit that in a very twisted way, I was a little disappointed that the tsunami didn't come. I think it would have been an amazing thing to see, though I'm very thankful that all my kids (as well of the rest of Fiji) are safe!

For those of you who are worried about the chance of me getting caught in a tsunami, I'd just like to inform you of the following:

My house (and most of the island I live on) is at a high enough elevation to be safe from tsunamis (and most flooding). In addition, I believe that there are only two recorded tsunamis in Fiji's history. The most recent one was in 1953, which had 5 reported deaths associated with it, and the one before it was in 1898 or so, with no reported deaths. So, please don't worry.

You should be much more concerned about my boat/bus travel, the political situation of this country, and the possibility of heart attack from the amount of fattening, fried, coconut milk soaked foods in this country! No, just kidding, please don't worry!