Ever since I started this trip, I have had very interesting and extreme experiences. To each one of them, I have toasted or celebrated my release from that energy, good or bad. Last night, was one of those extreme experiences.
The recent chain of events started last week, when there was an intense lightening storm on O’ahu, Honolulu, Waikiki. The locals kept telling me that it is weird to see even some lightening on O’ahu, let alone a storm of it. A few days later, an earthquake hit Waikiki – though relatively small. I was walking along the beach so I don’t recall the event – but was informed upon returning to the hostel. This again, is extremely rare on O’ahu and had everyone talking about it.
After that I hopped a flight to the big island of Hawaii. Just before I got there, a new fissure on the volcano Kilauea had opened up and was currently spewing lava. If this wasn’t extreme enough, the course of events in the next few days would top things off. Yesterday, just before sundown, I was sitting beside a koi pond to talk with a friend back home when my left ear began to ring loudly. I remember telling him that I feel something coming. Before I left that Zen garden, I began to hear a Harikrishna singing near the exit I chose to take. I sat down, crossed my legs, and listened to the beauty of that next omen. Little did I know how the night would play out?
Just before 11:00pm Hawaiian time (4:00am EST) I was awakened to my bunk mate shaking the bed. I got up to see what she was doing up there when I realized that I had no top bunk mate! I looked over to the other girls who had woken up and were now all staring at the open window from their beds. It was a local earthquake.
About a few minutes later, tsunami sirens began to blare – we all looked at each other puzzled because earthquakes on the big island happen just about every day, there is no need for sirens. At that point, someone from the hostel came into the room and informed us that about an hour ago, Japan was hit with a massive earthquake and there is a tsunami heading our way. That explained the sirens and we all began to pack a bag and converse about the location we will be evacuating to.
In roughly a half hour’s time, we were being told that there is a mandatory evacuation and we all had to leave for higher ground, as we were within the evacuation zone.Walking about a block past the evacuation zone (2 blocks from the hostel), we camped out for a bit on the stairs of a library. I called a local who I had recently befriended and knew worked at a bar around the corner. I asked him if he would like to join us and then proceeded to ask him if he could grab a bottle of wine, since we are in for a long night.
Awhile later, he showed up with a bottle of tequila and we all toasted the experience we were about to live. I ended up walking back to the hostel at that point to grab some more supplies. I slipped through the chain on the door and collected blankets, toilet paper and other items that could be used. After reaching the group again, some of us decided to head for higher ground and others went to get their cars.
I was with the group who were on foot and we made it a few blocks to a safer area. I spotted a school that was on a hill and in the outside protected hallways, we set up camp. After talking a bit and calling who we had to, one by one we settled down for a rest, right before the tsunami was supposed to hit the coast. A few hours later I woke up to find one of us gone which led to a fellow female bunk mate going missing an hour later.
At this point we grabbed her belongings and made it down the hill, as a lot seemed normal, the island was alive again – except for the other people walking down the hill with us, carrying their lives with them as well. A few blocks later we saw my missing female bunk mate who informed us that we cannot get back through the evacuation zone.
Upon further investigation, we learned that we could not go back until about 8am. It was at that time, 7am Hawaii. So, my friend from the island and I walked to the nearest open store, just outside the evacuation zone. Grabbing some coffee and breakfast at a local diner we found out that the time has been raised to about midday. So, we went to the bar he works at to go and rest on the couches when we met up with a few people who were coming to see if there was damage to the building – there was none.
And here we sit, my friend sleeping on the couch in front of me – I, writing this blog, we wait some more. We saw some footage of the disaster in Japan and my experience in no way is as immense – of course. I can only think back to me toasting my own adventure of the earthquake/tsunami evacuation and must once again, toast to the more devastating one, with this post.
I am deeply feeling for those people, for the course of the events of the night and past week are being evaluated on a grand scale. To the situation in Japan – one can only act on the will that we will recover from it.
Good energy goes out to those in Japan and around the world.
