The Tsunami That Never Came

Jair was at rugby training when he rang to say that Japan had had an earthquake and tsunami. There was a tsunami warning for Solomon Islands as well so youth group had been cancelled. I promptly googled Japan and tsunami and came up with lots of info about it. Then I thought, hey, wait a moment... Japan isn't so far away from Solomon Islands. Maybe this is for real (I mean, we get tsunami warnings every time there's an earthquake somewhere... well, except for Haiti and Christchurch.)

In the end many of us at SWIM decided to evacuate. After all, we are quite close to the sea - just 10 minutes stroll away! It must have been quite a sight, to see five vehicles leaving in convoy, heading to different places around Honiara, where the hills make it safe.

We went to SITAG, the local Wycliffe base and enjoyed their hospitality in a house that was, quite providentially, vacant. At around 12:30 ish we were awake (it was the first time we'd shared a room with Theresa... she actually is quite noisy in her sleep!) and we said to each other, well if anything happens, it'll happen now (It was the projected time the wave would hit). It was raining, and we heard the sounds of people talking, shouting. I remember thinking later on in the early hours of the morning, as I waded in semi-consciousness, either the tsunami was really bad and everything in lower Honiara has been wiped out, including all the helicopters that would hypothetically be coming in to help, or nothing has happened, because it's very suspiciously quiet.

The next morning, I got out to feed Theresa when she woke up at six. I went outside on the verandah. You could see Lunga Point and I thought, well, it looks fine. So then after Theresa had fed and Jair woke up, we packed our things and snuck out of the house while the other evacuees were still sleeping. It was quiet and peaceful (for a change) in Honiara as we drove through at 7 am.

And the sea was still.