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Situation Report: American Samoa. Day 5.

by Tim Serban

Situation Report: American Samoa

American Red Cross volunteer Tim Serban was deployed to American Samoa Friday, October 2 as member of the National Red Cross Response Team. Tim is the Director of Mission Integration and Spiritual Care with Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, WA and has been a volunteer with Red Cross since 1999. His first volunteer training with the Red Cross was in Critical Incident Stress Debriefing. Tim is thumb-typing these reports and sending them home using his iPod mobile device--when connections are available.

Thanks to Tim's home Chapter in Washington State for sharing these reports with us here in Arizona.


Notes From: Tim Serban
American Red Cross Spiritual Care Response Team (SRT) Lead
Disaster Relief Operation (DRO) 560-Am. Samoa

DAY 5: Wednesday 10/7/09.

We never know...

So just when you think the nerves are settling down on this island of grief, you experience what we experienced today, a Tsunami Warning as we were working with the fears of the early childhood educators.

Their school students, homes, and people were lost, and the grief was very evident as the emotional concerns were palpable the minute we looked out the classroom window to see a sea of children in uniforms pouring out of their schools and all walking quickly down the road uphill towards us. Before we knew it a teacher called out another Tsunami, "it's real it's not a drill, everyone get to higher ground now." Within a minute all were piled into cars and into the backs of pickup trucks on their way toward the jungle mountain tops.

The clouds hovered like fog around the top and as we followed a steady stream of vehicles driving up the mountain. Every 100 to 200 feet a young man stands holding a metal hammer-like bolt next to an empty, rusty oxygen tank suspended above the ground. Each is beating a steady and constant sound like a gong that echoes through the village. Just as one sound fades another gets louder….

Throughout the entire area, people pour out of their villages on foot and we make it to the top of the hill in time to hear the Tsunami Watch change to a real, more serious tsunami warning and when we thought we had 2 hours they shorten the time to impact to 50 minutes and from the top of the mountain you see tankers and fishing ships and the occasional sailboat head out of Pago Village lagoon and they move out at full power, and in the silence of everyone around you, you know they are straining their eyes as far out over the ocean to see the waves approaching. All communications are shut down due to jammed phone lines.

All emergency evacuation plans end at the top of the mountain as you are with a new family, just you and them. Are you about to be a witness to another devastating blow or are you just going to wait? You can hardly keep from triple dialing those you love and we began to share numbers of our loved ones back on the mainland in case one of us gets through. This time it was me, Carla my wife, answered and I let her know I was safe and she was the lifeline for four other people from the mainland.

Thank you for being our voice to say we were okay.

One earlier story before, it was our trip with 6 graders to the site where their classmate died and I can hardly not think that if this were earlier we would have been at the waters edge with 11 yr olds as they sang their Samoan Farewell song on their 21 ukuleles. I may send that song soon.

But it was a very deeply precious moment as the whales breeched in the sea behind them, something that rarely is seen in this area and rarely seen as one whale came very close and blew its spray and the kids got their sign from their friend that she is safe and at peace. A sight that no one could experience without the gift of tears, and so I send this across the sea with the echo of the day still playing in my mind and the beauty of the love they have for those they lost.

Tim Serban, SRT Manager, DRO 560 A. Samoa

 


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