15 Dec Tungua Town Officer still grappling with HTHH disaster and its aftermath.
Mr Felisiano Molī Town Officer of Tungua Island Ha’apai sits down for a quick interview with us during our visit to the island.
On Saturday I woke up my phone was ringing, someone here at the community had called to ask if I knew of the tsunami warning and if I could go and notify the community. As I was starting to do so I heard on the news that there really wasn’t much emphasis for us here as much as it was for our neighboring islands.
About that evening, to be honest its hard to return my thoughts back to the 15th and the experiences and what we witnessed. That afternoon I was cooling off at our Catholic church by the sea side when I heard rumbling. At that moment when I heard I was thinking they sounded like crashing waves approaching but I wasn’t too sure.
It wasn’t until my brother came in from sea with his wife and told me to look out at the sea and wondered why it was behaving that way. The tsunami at that moment was approaching when I yelled for us to run inland when we heard the first explosion. The first tsunami wave was already reaching shore way before we heard the explosion.
I yelled at everyone to go inland while I went home to find my wife and children. When I reached home they weren’t there they had already gone inland. On my way to evacuate the people I saw a majority had already done so. That was how our saving grace that they found safety to higher ground.
There were no lives lost because the community had already known that the instant the sea behaves irregularly they should evacuate immediately inland. When we went inland I remembered there the parents of church minister could not be found at the site. On my way to the couple I saw a lot pigs going up inland and at that moment I grew fearful but I knew I had to get to the couple.
I met two more on the way and asked them to come help the couple in town. On our way we saw the third wave approach. When we were evacuating we didn’t realize the damage the tsunami had left, it wasn’t until the next day on Sunday morning when we returned did we see the extent of the damage.
There is an elevated area where we evacuated to, some say it used to be a burial ground for Fijians. When we got there a large part of the community were there, we got tarpaulins and the men held on to it to shelter the women and children. It wasn’t until the rain let up did the men and youth look for sticks and branches to prop up the tarps until the morning.
The immediate need of the community is food and water. Second is shelter. Third to that, when NEMO was here we had asked for boats. At this moment there are no boats, all boats have been damaged. We need it in case someone falls ill, communication is broken, no boats to travel and the nearest medical facility is Ha’afeva.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.