8:04 pm HST: Abby receives a phone call from Camp Mokule’ia director and Green 2 project sponsor, David Turner, informing the team of the earthquake and the Tsunami warning for the Hawaiian Islands
8:16 pm HST: Manu, a staff member at Camp Mokule’ia, comes to Green 2’s cabin to alert the team of the tsunami and provide insight from an islander as to proper evacuation procedures
8:18 pm HST: Green 2 frantically packs evacuation bags in preparation for the possible siren warnings
9:51 pm HST: First siren goes off. Green 2 quickly gathers bags and piles into the van, just to hear from Manu, that this siren is merely a warning and there is no need to leave quite yet.
10:07pm HST: Team Members sit around in Lodge, watching the news, calling family members, and trying to keep minds occupied.
10:32pm HST: Second siren goes off. Green 2 once again piles into the van, this time accompanied by four carless backpackers from Montana, and drives to Waialua High School.
10:45pm HST – 12:47am HST: Green 2 hangs around in High School parking lot, listening to the radio, playing frisbee, and trying to stay distracted.
12:47am HST: Team members begin to move inside to school Cafeteria for coffee, water, snacks, and news broadcast. Team gains appreciation for our shelter operations trainings.
3:07am HST: First wave hits Island of Kaua’i
3:21am HST: First wave hits Island of Oahu
3:36am HST: Second wave hits Oahu
3:52am HST: Third wave hits Oahu
4:00am – 8:00am HST: Team members attempt to catch some shut-eye, lying down on the benches of cafeteria tables.
8:25am HST: Oahu receives all clear from Mayor
8:30am HST: Green 2 leaves overnight refuge and heads back to Camp Mokule’ia, where they find evidence of high waters, but no significant damage.
9:04am HST: Tsunami pancakes with David. The team is happy to be alive and well.
What an unbelievable night. And before this all began it had already been quite a day, so I will start all the way back to the morning of March 10th. That morning we were split into two groups for work. Four team members stayed behind at camp to begin work on our tent platforms. The remaining six of us headed off with David, the camp director, to Hau'ula. There is a camp at Hau'ula that is now closed. In exchange for some help cleaning the camp up for the land to be sold, we were able to go in and harvest used lumber from their former tent platforms to then use on our own. Quite different from our worksite, Hau'ula is in the jungle. I understand one reason why the camp may have failed: the place is mosquito infested. Honestly I have never been so swarmed with mosquitos in my life. I covered myself in "Off" bug-spray, only to emerge with at least forty bites, ten of which were (very attractively) on my face. While the bites were itchy and the swarms of bugs were certainly annoying to me, their effect on me was nothing to that on my teammate and friend, Dominique, who we learned is allergic to mosquitos. About half way through the day, Dom could not stay in the jungle and while drinking some liquid benedryl, had to be taken back to camp. Because we were about forty-five minutes from camp, it would not have been worth while for the driver to return to the jungle. Luckily we had two vehicles, our van and a truck to haul the lumber. Unluckily, that truck only fit two extra passengers in the cab, so only two of us could stay behind with David. Katie and I stayed for the remainder of the day. We broke up two tent platforms, broke for lunch around 2pm, and then returned to the campsite to carry out the remaining lumber. The lumber that still needed to come out the quarter mile to the truck included four enormous 4x10 beams. Katie and I had quite a time hauling them out, pausing every so often to rest our arms and swat away bugs. Then it started pouring rain. Meanwhile, David was busy moving eight concrete trapezoids that had been supporting the platforms. His work and energy never ceased, but Katie and I were finding ourselves incredibly drained do the work that was originally intended to be shared with four other teammates. By the time we got back to Camp Mokule'ia that evening, and our team met us to unload the truck, we were dead tired. Marybeth commented that we looked to have "lost our souls."
After a shower and dinner, the promise of an calm evening and an early bedtime was lifting my spirits. I was already in bed by eight when Abby got a phone call. Maya and I jokingly made fun of Abby's constant response of "ok" as she talked to David on the phone. Then Abby made the announcement, telling us about the earthquake and the Tsunami warning that applied to all of the Hawaiian islands. I was terrified. All I could see in my head were images I had seen on the news years back when the huge Tsunami hit various locations on the Indian Ocean. I saw our entire camp washed away and water crashing in through the windows of a high school gym where we and hundreds of others were taking refuge. Of course these images are not all what came to pass. My reaction was, as it turns out, way more than it needed to be, but with all my nervous energy I began to pack a bag of valuable belongings. Then Manu, a staff member of the camp who lives on the property, came in to tell us of the warning. He was very calm about the whole thing, but his light mood did not quite lighten mine. Instead, the rest of the team began to pack bags as well and we prepared for the possible evacuation.
When the first siren rang around 9:30, we were ready to go and jumped to action collecting our things, throwing our remaining belongings on the top bunks of beds, and heading out the van. We were about to pull out when Manu came out and informed us this was just a test and warning. No need to leave yet, "but man, you guys were fast!"
We headed back inside, and a couple that was staying in the lodge invited us in to watch the newscast. I sat glued to the news and when I saw images of the Tsunami that had by this point hit Japan, I was once again terrified by imagery. My body wanted to sleep, but my mind kept my eyes open.
Around 10:30 the second siren rang out and it was time to leave and head to Waialua High School down the street. The refuge center there was not yet open, so we spent quite a bit of time in the parking lot. Now that we had evacuated and it was somewhat close to the time my parents would have to wake up on the east coast, I called home and was both impressed and calmed by the steadiness of my mother's voice on the other end of the line. Taylor, played guitar, we listened the the radio, a few people tried to sleep, and we otherwise just hung around waiting and waiting and waiting. We knew it would still be several hours until anything would happen.
Eventually more people began to show up in the parking lot and we were able to head inside, where instead of listening to the radio, we were glued to the television broadcast. As we got more information about the predictions of the waves and we learned that we were in fact safe where we were, my tense mood lightened considerably. Around 1am I talked to some friends on the east coast and was able to be rather chipper about the goings on, now viewing it less as a threat and much more as an experience that I would not forget and could add to my own personal storybook.
Now it was just more waiting, a little bit of sleep (but not much). The entire event was really rather anti-climatic. The waves hit a little later than expected and as we realized that the waves were not hugely destructive, I began to drift in and out of sleep, checking in with the news any time I woke up.
Around 8:30 in the morning, the mayor gave the all clear and we were able to return to camp, where we were happy to see that, though the waves had risen up to our cabins, there was no damage to report at all. David arrived shortly after us and made us a wonderful pancake breakfast. Then, while David and Abby were talking over plans for the work day, they looked over and saw half the team asleep in chairs throughout the dining hall. We were able to go nap until 1pm and then it was off to work on the Tent platforms. I wanted to sleep more, but ended up being glad we worked and went about a normal day. The time was bizarre. It was almost as if nothing had happened, but our exhaustion reminded us that it had.
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