Tsunami

The phone rings at 4:53am and I hear Kevin's dad leaving a message. I jump out of bed, immediately assuming something is wrong. He tells us about the giant earthquake in Japan and how there is a tsunami warning for Santa Cruz.  I remember the last tsunami warning and I brush it off thinking it wont be a big deal.

We get up a bit later and Kevin heads to the harbor. I am waiting for him to come home because we have many errands to run today. After a couple hours I call him to see what the hold up is. He tells me in a stressed and rushed tone that he cant talk because he is trying to save his boat. What?! Is he serious? I put on the news and see live footage of the first surge rushing in through the harbor. I cant believe it, this isn't just an over-hyped event, but a giant body of water is literally surging into and then out of the harbor. I kept the news on and when they showed areal footage of the harbor, I would press pause when they panned over S dock to see if Kevin's boat was still there.

The huge amount of water caused many boats to break free from the ropes that secured them to the docks and float down the channel, banging into other boats as they made their way toward the ocean. Some entire docks broke off, boats and all and floating away like a ping pong down the harbor channel.

Kevin later tells me how the harbor patrol were trying to keep all the fisherman off their dock (good luck). They even went as far to put a locked chain on the gate to S dock. This of course provoked Kevin to climb over the fence, which made it so they had to unlock it as he was now locked on the dock. The sheriff was called to deal with the unruly fisherman who would not stay off the dock. For all of you who know Kevin, you can just imagine him being told he cant go save his boat but must remain a safe distance from the danger. Hah! Yeah right, silly to call the sheriff, he couldn't do anything.

The crazy thing is that this group of fisherman who have boats on S dock were saving not only their boats but busting their ass to keep debris from crashing into the other boats on the dock as well as securing the many broken lines. They should have been paid to be there, rather than treated as law breakers.  After all the surges had passed Kevin came home and his boat was still afloat, with no damage. I cant even begin to think what we would do if it went down...

 That being said I cant imagine the extent of the tragedy in Japan. I see photos and news broadcasts, but it seems so unreal. Their nightmare is just beginning and I feel so small and insignificant when confronted with the power of the forces of nature. All the day to day crap really doesn't matter but the fact that our families are here with us is what is important. I hate that it takes a tragedy to remind me of how lucky I am.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Lost in the Woods!

Big Rock Hole Trail One sunny day we drove to Henry Cowell State Park to meet up with some friends who were camping there. They told us ...