Japanese Disaster

The recent earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan had little effect on Vanuatu. Most of the South Pacific was under a tsunami advisory warning after the disaster, but thankfully we were unharmed.

I was in the capital Port Vila, enjoying an evening by the Sea Front, which is a public park bordering Vila Harbor when concerned locals from my village began calling me around 8 PM. They had heard the news over the radio and began calling to ask my opinion as to whether or not they should evacuate to a higher elevation. After about 6 phone calls, I decided I should probably go to the Peace Corps office and check it out.

At the office, I found news about the tsunami warning online and then heard the Vanuatu Meteorology Department issue a warning until 1 AM specifically for Vanuatu, so I called my village and relayed the information. Almost everyone hiked into the bush and spent the night camping out on hill tops far away from the ocean.

I spent the night in town at a friends house also located safely away from sea. 1 AM came and went without any noticeable events, the ocean current became very strong, but no lives were lost here.

My soccer team was very tired the next day when we played our match in town because all of the players had slept poorly in the bush. But sleepiness is a pretty fair price to pay for one's safety I suppose...