Tsunami stories.
The further north we go the more we see and hear of last year’s tsunami south of Samoa. We have met 3 yachts who survived the epicentre – 2 in Pago Pago, American Samoa, and one here at Niuatoputapu, a tiny Tongan island half way between Vava’u and Samoa. We met Kirk, skipper of Gallivanter, in Neiafu through a diesel container he was selling. Kirk is a larger than life American – talkative, full of stories and loquacious joviality. Wayne, from Victoria, BC and solo skipper of Learnativity ( to my relief he wasn’t pressing Christmas bibles on all comers) we met with Ruby, his adorable miniature black poodle, on our arrival in Niuatoputapu. More measured and serious than Kirk, he was pleased to tell us his extraordinary tsunami experience. Gallivanter and Learnativity were moored to the large concrete wharf at Pago Pago and, for both owners, their first inkling that things were not quite right came when the 10 metres of water under their vessels disappeared in seconds, their keels hitting the seabed and rolling on their sides among the flapping tuna and detritus in the mud. Wayne, clinging to the stays on the high side and hearing Ruby’s claws as she skidded down the deck, let go and managed to grab her by the scruff of the neck as she was passing through the life lines. In an astonishing feat of quick thinking and athleticism, he threw Ruby 15 feet straight up where an 8 year old boy, gazing in awe at the boats on their sides way down there in the mud, actually caught her. Then the water came back in – not in a violent, turbulent rush but rising calmly and very rapidly. The boy with Ruby and his family watched as the water rose and, as it became apparent that it was not going to stop at its usual place a couple of metres below the wharf, they all climbed onto a large planter with small shrubs and a tall lighting pole. The water kept rising. Learnativity and Gallivanter had both been lifted off the seabed. Gallivanter was carried clear over the enormous wharf but Learnativity’s keel became jammed under it and the steel yacht looked for all the world like she would soon be crushed by the immense pressure building around her. Instead, however, she was squeezed like an orange pip and was shot out from under the wharf where she sat upright. Wayne somehow got to the cockpit, started the engine and threaded his way to deeper water through a nightmare of trees, bits of buildings, huge drifting tuna trawlers, sinking wrecks and dead bodies. On Gallivanter Kirk watched as he and his boat were carried over the wharf and, to his horror, directly toward the family now clinging near the top of the pole and swept horizontal by the surge with Ruby wrapped around the boy’s neck and reportedly quite calm. Kirk was helpless as Gallivanter charged the pole and family and Ruby when the surge reached its peak and began receding carrying Gallivanter, engine already started, back over the wharf and Kirk too dodged part submerged cars and wreckage of all kinds. Both yachts survived, damaged but floating, and the family up the pole with Ruby did too. The skipper of the vessel next to Gallivanter was swept to his death as he tried to untie his mooring lines. Both Kirk and Wayne had cut theirs. About 50 others died that day in Pago Pago. For more Google: Learnativity.Typepad.com
In Nuiatoputapu Agnes and Bertil aboard Panacea felt the earthquake even through the water but thought nothing of it until they heard the tsunami warning on the radio. Bertil looked to the reef entrance to see the fringing palm trees peeling off the shore. He had time only to start his engine and turn the boat into the advancing surge. Panacea bounced wildly but the water passed harmlessly under. Ashore all was very different. A year later the devastation is evident everywhere. They lost 9 of their 800 people, several hundred lost their homes and all belongings, crops everywhere were destroyed, many boats were swept away or sunk and all communication with the outside world was severed for weeks. Many buildings are still empty shells with doors and windows gaping. Felled palm trees litter the foreshore. Everywhere people live in campsites with tents, now sagging, faded and often torn, for shelter. The government effort has focussed on repairing the roads and until yesterday the supply of tents has been their only response to the housing need. Yesterday half a dozen building platforms were erected and materials for the one roomed homes to be built on top are said to be arriving next week. There are only one or two functioning boats in this village. Several wrecks are pulled up on the shore, one being repaired. Outrigger dugout canoes are in common use and a new one is being built near where we land. So scope for fishing is limited to within the lagoon. The only VHF transmitter is owned by Niko who managed to recover it from his wrecked fishing boat. None of the port authorities or other government agencies can communicate with the shipping in the area.
Panacea’s satellite phone became the only link with family and officials in the rest of Tonga and the world. Her well equipped first aid kit provided the best medical help on the island. Bertil and Agnes found themselves at the hub of the island’s emergency response effort. These two gentle, big-hearted sailors worked tirelessly for many days on behalf of this stricken community and are remembered with great affection. We heard their account while waiting on the weather in Whangarei. They too were heading for Tonga and Niuatoputapu in particular to meet old friends, see the state of the recovery and to deliver all the much needed supplies their small yacht could carry from NZ. Among these were several copies of a beautifully presented photo album of before and after images from their camera – a valuable treasure and important record.
Listening to these stories of events of more than a year ago we couldn’t help but be impressed by the immense impact on all the sailors. We were eager to hear their stories but they needed to tell them. Wayne frequently interrupted his account with phrases like “even now it seems so surreal. Nothing made sense. I could no longer tell which was up (I’m sure he meant this figuratively and literally). Things that just should not happen were happening like a wild dream and as bizarre.”