It was a typical post-tsunami Samoana HS day: unset schedule, stress, and uncertainty. The lunch bell had just rung, and students were sprawled along campus. As we were headed to grab lunch, a teacher came hustling towards us. “There’s been another warning. The coast guard is driving along the main road. We have to get everyone up the mountain.” Max and I set off in different directions and joined the other teachers spreading the word and rounding up the students toward the mountain. This time I didn’t have to literally run up the mountain.....we just hustled :) A tsunami warning was set until 2pm, the time it would take a tsunami traveling at 500-600 mph to reach us from Vanuatu. (We were then informed that Vanuatu had experience 3 sever earthquakes, a 7.8, 7.3, and 7.1.)
I don’t know what’s going on in the South Pacific, but it’s not good. Samoa hasn’t experienced a tsunami in 60 years, and even then it didn’t even reach the houses. Tsunami warnings aren’t much more common either, as none of the older teachers grew up with tsunami threats.
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