1 October 2009, Vuda Point, Fiji
02/10/2009 0002UTC 17 40.828S 177 23.159E Day 843 Up at 0610, 23C, Clear, Wind SSE 5-10 Knots.
[Above, the tsunami-devastated wharf at Pago Pago harbor in American Samoa. We landed our dinghy and walked that dock daily during our seven-week sojourn in Pago about a year ago; it is hard to comprehend the annihilation even with photos.]
[To read our book, Family Voyaging - Ak to nZ, and receive voyage planning assistance (VIP Service), go to the Family Voyaging website at www.familyvoyaging.com.]
From what we can gather, Pago Pago was hardest hit of the larger towns in the Samoas. We are extremely familiar with that harbor after anchoring there for nearly two months during a refit last year. We've now heard that of the twenty yachts anchored in Pago Pago when the waves hit, only four were still floating in the harbor afterwards. One yachtie was killed.
Along the edges of Pago Pago harbor, standing out in bold relief, are (were) a number of large and rusting hulks, abandoned Chinese fishing trawlers. Our understanding is that some of these vessels broke loose from their mooring lines and careened through the harbor, causing extensive damage. A similar incident happened some years back during a cyclone in Pago Pago. The derelict and free-floating trawlers created more destruction than the winds and storm surge.
Power in Pago Pago was expected to be out in some areas for up to a month, and officials said that over two-thousand people were housed in seven shelters across the island. The waves lifted a hardware store and swept it across a two-lane highway. Crews later found the two employees' bodies in the debris. Albeit there is, at this point, no way to know for certain, it may have been the hardware store we frequented, which was located above the main landing wharf and right in harm's way. The two men who ran the store were the ones who came to Grace's first-aid when she was seriously gouged by a cat ashore one day. We've always credited their quick response and treatment with preventing an infection from developing. Obviously we are concerned that the same hardware store and employees may be at the center of this tragic event.
Of the cruising boats that escaped catastrophe in Samoa was the s/v Dorothy Marie, which was moored at Apia in independent Samoa. We knew them from Fiji; the yacht was here at Vuda Point Marina until just recently. We'd spent time with the crew, Glen and Sally. As the tsunami approached, they were told by locals to run for higher ground. They did, and are alright. Ironically, while in Apia, Glen and Sally were expecting to meet Laura, who owns the only resort on Niuatoputapu Island. But so far Laura hasn't shown up. We fear for her safety.
Though we have yet to communicate directly with our friends in Neiafu harbor in Tonga's Vava'u Island Group, we believe that the situation there was not dramatic and that they are more than likely okay. An encouraging email arrived late yesterday via some other acquaintances:
The tsunami was a non-event here in Neiafu harbor but was treated to the full local VHF net anxiety response you might expect. We had about a .5 to 1.5 metre surge in and out that caused only a visible rise and fall of water on shore but no wave action. The lowest outlying reef anchorages had some interesting effects -- Mala Island Resort lost its dock; the Coral Garden went nearly dry and then filled in again with a huge current; one boat hit bottom and was scraped back and forth out of control in Nuku Island anchorage. But, overall, everywhere (in Tonga) except Niuatoputapu did fine. Niuatoputapu is a different story and we are only piecing it together now.
Emergency medical teams arrived at tsunami-ravaged Niuatoputapu Island yesterday, the first outside aid for Tongan victims since the early-morning disaster two days ago. The death toll for this remote settlement, 270nm north of the country's main island, Tongatapu, now stands at nine. Four residents with serious injuries were flown out to Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, only yesterday because damage to Niuatoputapu's marginal airstrip meant no craft could land immediately after the disaster.
A Tongan Government spokesman who had flown over the island, said ninety-percent of the homes had been destroyed and the hospital was seriously damaged. Two of the island's villages, Hihifo and Falehau, bore the brunt of three tidal waves, some 6m high, which hit at three-minute intervals after the 8.3-magnitude earthquake. Vaipoa village remained relatively unharmed.
Just over a thousand people live on Niuatoputapu, which is situated relatively close to the Samoan border. It is isolated by the expensive cost of infrequent transport to the island. That seclusion was exacerbated this week as the tsunami severed all telecommunications infrastructure. Because aid workers were unable to fly directly to the island, a Tonga Defence Services patrol boat loaded with food, medical supplies and tents was sent north from Tongatapu, arriving about 1800 yesterday.
Clean water remains a critical issue. Storage tanks are either unusable or were destroyed. A radio-based clothing and food drive started yesterday morning in Nuku'alofa and a French frigate, which is on a goodwill trip to the capital, has been formally asked to take supplies to Niuatoputapu.
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Comments [2]
30 September 2009, Vuda Point, Fiji
01/10/2009 0003UTC 17 40.828S 177 23.159E Day 842 Up at 0605, 24C, Partly Cloudy, Wind Calm.
[Above, this Associated Press photo shows the damage from yesterday's tsunami in Falehau village on Niuatoputapu Island, Tonga. Photos of our visit to the island in happier times are available here.]
[To read our book, Family Voyaging - Ak to nZ, and receive voyage planning assistance (VIP Service), go to the Family Voyaging website at www.familyvoyaging.com.]
The two Samoas suffered the most damage from the 30 September killer tsunami that swept the South Pacific. As many as a hundred are dead and numerous coastal towns were devastated. The largest cities in the tsunami's path -- Pago Pago, American Samoa, and Apia, Samoa -- are where we spent two months last year. So, looking at photos of the destruction there is a chilling and agonizing experience. But our chief worry is focused on the friends we made in the village of Falehau on Niuatoputapu Island, Tonga. It was in this tiny settlement, where we visited for over two weeks, that we befriended a wonderful Tongan family. They came aboard Wind Dancer for their son's 13th birthday party, they took Grant and Grace to school with them, I helped one of the men repair an outboard motor, we feasted with this family on numerous occasions, and they'd spent a whole day teaching Richelle how to cook Tongan style. They shared their island, family and home with us; there was never a moment that we did not feel wholly welcome. Sadly, from the above photo, it appears that our friends' home is gone. We do not yet know their fate.
At this point, we do know that there were deaths on the island, but the names have not been released. The Government of Tonga has declared a State of Emergency for Niuatoputapu, which is the closest Tongan island to Samoa. The total population of Niuatoputapu is approximately one-thousand people. Tonga Defence Services has confirmed that six people are dead there and four remain missing. Widespread devastation is also reported, including to the hospital, which the New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management reports has been destroyed. Damage has also been reported in the two other villages on Niuatoputapu.
The Australian vessel - the Voea Neiafu - departed Nuku'alofa, Tonga, last night for Niuatoputapu. The ship has aboard food, stores (tents, tarpaulins, etc.), medical supplies, a five-person civilian medical team, and Tonga Red Cross personnel.
We are also apprehensive about the welfare of fellow yachties in Tonga, Samoa and elsewhere in the South Pacific. At Niuatoputapu, some were anchored in the lagoon where we were moored last year. Our understanding is that most of the vessels got out through the pass into the open ocean before the tsunami arrived. At sea in deep water, tsunamis aren't much of a threat. There they are often not even perceptible. It's when these errant, earthquake-generated waves reach the shallows that they raise up to enormous heights and crash headlong into the shoreline and beyond. We heard that one boat was still anchored in the lagoon when the mountain of water arrived. The towering wave swept the yacht stem to stern and ripped out its windlass, but the vessel's anchor held and it survived the onslaught.
So far, we have not received any information about two of our dearest cruising friends, an American couple, who we know are still in Tonga. We believe the harbor where they are moored was not substantially damaged, but we wait with bated breath...
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29 September 2009, Vuda Point, Fiji
29-30/09/2009 0001UTC 17 40.828S 177 23.159E Days 840-41 Up at 0600, 24C, Partly Cloudy, Wind Calm.
[Above, map shows how close to us today's South Pacific earthquake was.]
[A new chapter has been added to Family Voyaging - Ak to nZ.
In 'The Goal,' come aboard Wind Dancer for an exhilarating and tempestuous passage, this one spanning the 1,300nm of open ocean from Tonga to New Zealand. A jolly sailor brings a fresh new dimension to the boat; the crew achieves its principal voyaging objective; and we discover that the land of Kiwis is upside down.
To read our book, and receive voyage planning assistance (VIP Service), go to the Family Voyaging website at www.familyvoyaging.com.]
A magnitude 8.0 to 8.3 earthquake rattled the South Pacific today, triggering tsunami warnings for twenty island nations, including Fiji, and prompting Samoans to flee coastal villages for higher ground.
The temblor was located at 15.558°S, 172.073°W, which is:
115nm ENE of Hihifo, Tonga
125nm S of Apia, Samoa
335nm NNE of Nuku'alofa, Tonga
650nm NNE of Suva, Fiji
1,670nm NNE of Auckland, New Zealand
Following the quake, a 1.5m tsunami was reported at Pago Pago, American Samoa, and Apia, Samoa. Homes in some villages on the coast were washed away. Several people were drowned or swept to sea.
The quake struck shortly at 1748UTC about 125nm southwest of Apia, the capital of the independent island of Samoa, at a depth of about 20nm. Its epicenter was very near the Tongan island of Niuatoputapu, where we stayed among the villagers for two weeks last season. We do not know their fate, though we heard on the VHF radio this morning that the small settlements there may have been wiped out. Niuatoputapu is a low-lying, atoll-like island and has poor communications with the outside world. It may be days or longer before we know for sure if our Tongan friends there survived. This island is where the kids went to school during our visit, and we became very close with some of the local families. So, we're hoping and praying that they're safe. We'd also spent considerable time in the Samoas, so we can easily visualize the areas that suffered death and damage.
For those of us living at sea-level in Fiji -- about 650nm from the earthquake epicenter -- we were under a tsunami warning all morning. The 'tidal' wave's arrival time here came and passed but we noticed nothing in the marina. It was an unnerving few hours, nonetheless. Here's what the official warning looked like:
TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 003
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 2022Z 29 SEP 2009
THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...
WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.
A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR
AMERICAN SAMOA / SAMOA / NIUE / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU /
COOK ISLANDS / TONGA / TUVALU / KIRIBATI / KERMADEC IS / FIJI /
HOWLAND-BAKER / JARVIS IS. / NEW ZEALAND / FR. POLYNESIA /
PALMYRA IS. / VANUATU / NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / SOLOMON IS. /
JOHNSTON IS. / NEW CALEDONIA / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA /
POHNPEI / WAKE IS.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
ORIGIN TIME - 1748Z 29 SEP 2009
COORDINATES - 15.3 SOUTH 171.0 WEST
DEPTH - 33 KM
LOCATION - SAMOA ISLANDS REGION
MAGNITUDE - 8.3
MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY
GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL PER
------------------- ----- ------ ----- --------------- -----
RAROTONGA CK 21.2S 159.8W 1951Z 0.47M / 1.5FT 08MIN
APIA UPOLU WS 13.8S 171.8W 1832Z 0.70M / 2.3FT 08MIN
PAGO PAGO AS 14.3S 170.7W 1812Z 1.57M / 5.1FT 04MIN
EVALUATION
SEA LEVEL READINGS INDICATE A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. IT MAY HAVE
BEEN DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER AND
COULD ALSO BE A THREAT TO MORE DISTANT COASTS. AUTHORITIES SHOULD
TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS
CENTER WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA TO DETERMINE THE
EXTENT AND SEVERITY OF THE THREAT.
FOR ALL AREAS - WHEN NO MAJOR WAVES ARE OBSERVED FOR TWO HOURS
AFTER THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OR DAMAGING WAVES HAVE NOT
OCCURRED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS THEN LOCAL AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME
THE THREAT IS PASSED. DANGER TO BOATS AND COASTAL STRUCTURES CAN
CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS DUE TO RAPID CURRENTS. AS LOCAL
CONDITIONS CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE
ALL CLEAR DETERMINATION MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.
ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS
WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL
ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE
LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN
SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.
LOCATION - FORECAST POINT - COORDINATES - ARRIVAL TIME
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FIJI - SUVA - 18.1S 178.4E - 2003Z 29 SEP
The tsunami warning was cancelled for Fiji about 1030 ship's time. So, we dodged the bullet and are safe, though today's events were an awesome reminder of just how rapidly your day can change.
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