Surreal

Sorry that it has been so long since I have posted an update, especially since many are wondering about the situation here, but it has been a busy and exhausting weekend. Overall the cleanup has been going decently well. Families, friends and volunteers have been working hard and have cleared away impressive amounts of rubble, but there is still much more to do. There has obviously been some snags in the way of organization, looting, and some people taking advantage of the situation – but those are expected. Situations like these bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. This post should give you a glimpse of the recovery efforts from my view thus far.

Thursday I awoke and Thanh and I headed to school to check in and hear the latest news. Teachers were looking melancholy and were swapping stories about the tsunami and news about what is going on. From what we are hearing it seems as though people are still waiting for FEMA to finish their assessments before too much serious cleaning can begin, so we decide to wait to hear from the Red Cross as they said they would call us once they were ready to distribute supplies. Raj and Kelly had told us that they also wanted to help, so we walked up to their house to wait for the call from Red Cross. Two hours later we were still waiting, and getting exceptionally stir crazy. We finally decided just to call them and see what was going on, and once we got a hold of them we found out that there was nothing for us to do. Needless to say we were stumped at how there was so much that needed to be done, but nothing for us to do…

Not willing to give up on helping yet (plus no school so what else were we to do?) we headed to the Mormon church down the road that is doubling as a shelter for those that lost their homes. Upon arriving we discovered that we had just missed lunch and that there was really nothing to do. They actually offered us food, which we politely refused as we really were starting to feel anti-helpful. As I had not yet heard from Taylor and Scott or the National Park folks (phones here are a hot mess) Thanh and I decided to head to Pago Pago where I hoped I would run into the staff at the office.

On the way I was repeatedly trying to call people, and finally much to my surprise and delight got a call through to Taylor. I was relived to here that both her and Scott were alright, and that miraculously their house was fine. Their story turned out to be the one that we had heard through the coconut wireless, but even more terrifying. Apparently they had felt the earthquake, gotten into their car and begun to drive along the coast to get to the road up the mountain, and as they were driving the first wave came up and slammed their car off the road. Luckily they managed to get back on track and drive the car the remaining short distance to the road to high ground, not without much freaking out and swearing as the water was getting ever higher. Both have said that there was nothing as terrible as watching the following waves tear through the village as they looked on helplessly, though thankfully there were no casualties in their area.

Feeling heartened by the good news from Taylor and Scott we continued on our way to Pago. Arriving in the harbor area our mood sunk again as we survived the damage there for the first time. The area that we were just coming to know and love was gone, and I was struggling to remember what had been in the now rubble covered areas. We hopped out of the bus and began to walk, trying to take in the scene. As we arrived at Pago Plaza, where the National Park office had been we now saw the empty shell of the building as all of the stores and offices on the first floor had been gutted by the wave. Looking around I saw no one I recognized, and so we split up: Thanh to get more footage for the Vietnamese news station she had a correspondence with, and me to walk to the Teacher Quality office to pick up my long waiting birthday packages from home. Mid way through my mile long walk I heard a voice shout "Kate!" and saw a SUV pull over in front of me. Sarah and Mike from the park jumped out and Sarah gave me a swift hug asking me if I was alright. I assured her I was fine then asked about them and the rest of the staff, and was amazed to hear that they too, like Taylor and Scott, had a close call. Mike and Sarah had run out of the building and up the mountain with other staff and were only seconds ahead of the wave. If the wave had been a second earlier or a bit bigger they could have been lost. Mike related the story of Jim, another staff member that I know, who was traveling on one of the busses and had to scream and shake the driver so that he would stop and they could both run to safety as he was trying to outrun the wave. Luckily they both also make it in the last moments. It was miraculous that some many people I have met in these last few months were so close to perishing but had the good sense and luck to make it.

Mike and Sarah gave me a ride to pick up my packages, and then a traveled with them until Nu'uuli hearing about the damages at the park, stories from Pago, and Mike's chat with Wolf Blitzer. After assuring them that I would love nothing more than to help them re-setup the office (I guess my new master's work?) I hopped a bus back to Leone. Back on the bus I was in a much more relaxed state than I was twelve hours ago as I now knew for certain that those I had not heard from were safe, even if just barely. The cleanup here stops with dusk, which here is about 6:00, so after a shower at home we relaxed for the night. Somehow we managed to keep out Thursday night tradition of Rubble's alive despite the chaos, and met up with friends from around the island to share our stories from Tuesdays, and ways to help those affected. Back home after that long dinner, I slept much more soundly than I had the last few nights.

 

Friday dawned and the WorldTeach Leone crew had an even more intensified need to help out. Thanh, Julia, and I headed down to Leone and found the chief (also our PTA president) and asked him how we could help. We were directed to an area where we helped those already working sort rubble into wood, metal and garbage piles which we continued to do until the early afternoon with the additional help of Kelly, Raj, Tanne, John and Cynthia. Sifting through the debris was a strangely emotional task. One moment you were solemn because you knew we were still searching for the body of a little boy – the next you were laughing at some ridiculous item you found, like someone's porn stash, or silk boxers – then you were right back to somber as you realized that that was someone's life laid out for you to sift thought. There we also the just bizarre moments were you would find a stiffened and rotting moral eel or puffed up puffer fish.

Once people started breaking, we started to plan our next move while sweaty, unbelievably filthy and with stinging eyes and lungs from the dust and smoke. We called the Red Cross only to again find out that they were planning and still didn't need us, so we all went home for some much needed showers and naps. That night we met again over dinner with other friends who were coming to our area as the east side still didn't have power. After dinner we all headed back to Rosemary and Brigit's house where I crashed along with our east side friends Charlie and Jess so that I could be closer to the Red Cross in the morning.

Saturday we Julia and I headed down to the Red Cross praying that they would finally have something for us to do, and lo and behold they did! We were immediately sent to a FEMA training where they were showing recovery volunteers and Red Cross staffers how to set up the Yurts that are going to be the temporary housing for those who lost their homes. The training was pretty cool, and so were the Yurts. They go up quickly and house about 8 people; I just hope they can stand the intense wind and rain that sometimes come up here. Back at the Red Cross, we thought that we would be sent out to put up some Yurts, but obviously there was more organizing to do because we waited about an hour before we joined forces with Sandra. Sandra is the woman in charge of PICED, and we ran into her at the Red Cross where she was also waiting to see if she could help. Eventually she was sick of waiting and decided to take matters into her own hands and get and deliver some supplied herself. We jumped in her truck, Rosemary included, and headed across town to the wholesale store to buy some intense amounts of mackerel, spam, noodles, flour, and canned spaghetti. After loading up the purchases from the few stores we visited, we headed out to Poloa where her relatives lived and were house 35 people from their village who had lost their homes. We swung by and picked up Thanh, and then delivered the food to her family's house.

One the way back into town we stopped by Taylor and Scott's house where they were cleaning the debris from their yard and beach. After we visited for awhile Sandra was ready to go, but the four of us decided to stay back and help Taylor and Scott with their clean up. After a few hours of picking up garbage, hacking trees with a machete, carrying cinderblocks up the beach (torture, I swear…) it was getting late and we were getting exhausted. We clean up and decided to get some Chinese to relax and hang out. Dinner was lovely, and I promptly headed home with Brigit and Rosemary where we were planning to watch a movie, but Rosemary and I were out before it even got started.

Today I decided that I had to relax. Tomorrow we go back to school for the first time since the tsunami and I have no idea what to expect. As the chiefs of some of the villages said no one can go to work or school until the village is cleaned up, or principle is expecting between 50 – 60% attendance. We have no real idea how many will actually show, or how the students will act and feel on their first day back. Because of this, and since teaching is the reason I am here, I felt that I should be properly rested and ready to face tomorrow, whatever craziness it may bring. Attempt at normalcy, here we go.

Again here are some pics from the days past, just follow along and you will be able to figure out what they are.

Tsunami Recovery Begins