January 14, 2014

January 14, 2014

I think the big news item of this week is probably the cyclone that was threatening Tongatapu, but ended up wiping out the island of Ha`apai .(ha ah pie) which is north of us about 100 miles away, about an hour flight from Tonga.  We had warnings about the cyclone and everyone was on alert, meaning making sure we had plenty of food and water.  It is amazing what happens with a weather change, people and what they decide is important.  For some it was shopping, some like us it was the fine art of watching in anticipation for the storm because we’ve never experienced a cyclone before.  The difference between a cyclone and a hurricane is the hemisphere which makes the winds go in a different direction, like counter clock wise versus clock wise rotation of the winds.  The storm was quickly rated as a 4 or 5 with the winds to exceed 165-185 miles per hour.  That in itself is mind boggling.  The weather here was extremely hot and muggy, with very little breeze to cool us off.  The ants which are another indicator of change in weather were running extra fast, seemed like they were in a frenzy.  The humidity was so high that when we stepped outside, it felt like we were taking a lite shower, skin wet, clothing quickly felt damp. Windshields on the cars fogged up on the outside of the car. The clouds were great big, billowy kinds of clouds, racing with many layers of dark on dark on the horizon to the north. If you tried to look up to watch the clouds rush by, you would quickly get disoriented and dizzy watching them whish by.  It was like a race to see which layer would get to the starting line first. We got a little tired of the anticipation of the starting line up, so it became a little common place to watch the weather changes.  The news of the storm is like any other commentary from the forecasters, a lot of speculation; lots of wrong information which the weather likes to give to weather forecasters. When the storm finally hit us, it was only like a hiccup, strong rain for a few minutes and some wind.  We’ve have much worse rain storms.

Shopping was kind of like another race.  It’s amazing what people think they need to eat when they don’t think they can go shopping again.  Town was packed, people were carrying out cases of crackers, cereal, milk, flour, sugar, the staples. Everyone stacked up the essentials, plus batteries, which we didn’t even think of. A funny aside that happened with a favorite lady that works at the service center by the name of Fipe,(Fepay) who we had taken with us to get her driver’s license while we updated the license on the Dentists Zip Zip car.  Fipe needed to go to a store to get some supplies for her family in case the cyclone actually hit Tonga.  We went into an Indian store where she was trying to get a supply of crackers.  She went inside that store, then the manager sent her to the back to the wholesale store, she came back empty handed.  They talked for a bit, then back to the back again.  Finally she got lucky and came out to the car carrying 2 cases of crackers.  She told us these were crackers that her kids could eat if the power went off.  I was afraid that maybe that’s all they would get to eat.  She assured us that they had other stuff, but the kids really liked to eat the “cream crackers”, they don’t need butter and are already sweet.  We took her home and her kids climbed their mango trees, she sent us home with a “thanks” for taking her to town.  Back to food storage now.  The stakes here have been pushing 72 hour packs, which most people had in stock in their homes.  We had a pretty good supply of most things.  We were also told that the Liahona campus was probably the safest place to be because of the cement buildings.  Our water supply is also the best on the island.  We still have to drink filtered water.

We decided that we wanted to see what the ocean looked like in a storm situation.  We, with the Alands, decided to go to the blow holes to see what was happening at the ocean.  As we got out of the car, the racing black clouds caught us and poured on us.  The winds were howling, the waves were absolutely majestic in the height they reached before crashing into the shore.  It was really hard to see because of the mist from the crashing waves that went into the air in addition to the rain driven by the winds.  The pelting rain felt like needles hitting us, but we were more impressed by the size of the waves, the white caps that were crashing into the coral reef shores.  We got some pictures, but they don’t do justice to the fury of the rain, wind and waves. The lenses on the cameras also got pelted with rain.  I loved the crashing sound of the waves as they beat upon the shore, hells fury at its best.  Actually, it wasn’t that bad where we were standing, but it was that way on Ha`apai.  Ha`apai got smashed, trees, palms reduced to match sticks.  We went out again to the blow holes on Sunday.  The only difference was the shining sun and the warmth of its rays on our skin.  The storm that we got was just the fringe of the blown out cyclone Ian.

The Cyclone Ian hit Ha`apai on Saturday afternoon.  Apparently, the storm hit the island directly, missing both Tongatapu and Vava`u.  During the time the eye of the cyclone hit the Ha1apai, according to the news, the people ran to the LDS church to find safety because of the construction of the churches buildings. The cyclone then hit the other end of the island leveling about 70% of the island.  The website we looked at showed most of the damage, which was mind boggling.  Anything that was not cement came apart.  One Senior missionary couple on the island of Ha`apai had their roof come off their house.  Elder Va`enuku reported that the roof just peeled off and to make matters worse they got soaked with rain.  The missionaries were all accounted for with no injuries.  One lady died when she received a cut on her leg and literally bleed to death. The hospital sustained some damage, but they were unable to get her to medical attention in time.  She was 51 and left 3 children and her husband. Elder Tuku`afu, area seventy, President Tupou and  Bro. Nui who is the head of the service centers of all the islands, flew to Ha`apai Sunday on a chartered flight from New Zealand to assess damage and needs.   President Tupou went out to an island to check on 2 missionaries who hadn’t been accounted for. President Tuku`afu went to another distant island to check on the people and needs there.  The missionaries were safe and on their way to the main island of Ha`apai. The King’s army boat left after the storm passed and took tents, water and some supplies.

Now the amazing thing, Sunday morning after the edge of the storm passed here, emergency meetings were held and by evening the relief efforts on Tongatapu were started.  Monday morning, every ward and stake on the island was collecting items from the members.  Truck load after truck load collected from all the people from 14 stakes.  Where the humanitarian missionaries, Elder and Sister Webb, figured they might have 1 truck load from each ward, they got 10.  Mind you, this is a very poor island, but their hearts are not poor.  The widows mite brings a new meaning to giving when we saw the mountains of supplies that were sent to Ha`apai. We went to the wharf about 3 pm to take some pictures of the relief  supply efforts.  There were hundreds of people loading supplies onto a big supply tug boat. They had formed a human chain and tossing bags to each other.  One group of young men had loaded bags of flour and sugar for hours.  They were hot and sweaty but they just kept on working.  It was mind boggling, plus there were still pickups full of supplies coming at 5:30 when we left.

A funny thing happened to us though when we were invited to take a tour of the supply boat.  After we had gotten onto the boat and had taken pictures of the boat and the supplies, when we decided to get off the boat the same way we had entered, through the cargo bay, we found our way was blocked by a big electrical truck that was being shipped to Ha`apai.  There was no way we could squeeze past the truck and certainly no way we could move it or find someone who could move it.  We went back up to the top deck and found that we were about 6-8 feet off the ground depending on the movement of the boat sitting in the water.  We decided there was no way we were going to jump off that deck, no gang plank was even offered.  We then went down to the bottom deck where volunteers were loading items onto that deck.  The only problem with that exit was we were about 4 feet below the wharf and again the ship was going up and down with the tide.  Humm, there was no way that I could scramble up that high in a dress no less.  Steve even had his skirt on.  We stood there looking trying to figure out how we were going to get off the boat or if we were going to get to go to Ha`apai as we were, which was not very appealing at that point.  We had just walked through the area where the toilets were and there was no way that I was going to even consider that thought.  Yuck, the smell was awful, downright disgusting if the truth be known, the sight of it was also pretty gross. As we were standing there, Elder Webb told the guys there that were loading the supplies about our dilemma of getting off the boat, when they said “no problem” picked us up and threw us up onto the dock.  As I was saying, “I’m too fat”, I was thrown off the boat. I felt like I was flying.  These were pretty big guys who were doing the throwing. I wish I could have had a picture of our faces when we were being hoisted up off the boat.  What an amazing adventure.

 We have been so humbled by the generosity of the people who gave so much. Again, they don’t have much, but they gave what they had, the widow’s mite.  Many of the people of Tonga will probably be going without to give to the folks on Ha`apai.  Please remember them in your prayers and maybe even increase your fast offerings.  There are a lot of people who are in need.