What really matters. Chapter 1

By Art Gallagher

Sometimes the business of living keeps us from appreciating what really matters in life.  I suppose I should speak for myself, but I’ve heard that’s true for others too.   Unfortunately it takes an unexpected catastrophic or potentially catastrophic event to wake me up.   Yesterday was a day filled with several wake up calls for me.

I was awakened out of a deep sleep for no apparent reason in the middle of the night.  The digital clock in the bedroom read 2:47 AM.    I went to the bathroom because that’s what men in their 50’s do when they wake up in the middle of the night, and tried to go back to sleep.   But I had an annoying restlessness.   I turned on the television to find something mindless to help me sleep.  I tossed and turned for a while and felt myself starting to doze off when there was an emergency news break on the TV about a big earthquake in Japan and a coming tsunami.  “That’s terrible,” I thought to myself as I rolled over into what I hoped was the doze that would last at least a couple of hours.

The next thing I noticed I was on my feet heading towards my computer.  I didn’t remember giving up on the nights sleep and getting to work.  I was just up and walking towards my computer.  The television still had the news of tsunami in the Pacific going.   The digital clock read 3:40.

There was an email from my brother Michael that had arrived at 3:35 AM.  It had been sent from his Blackberry.

His email was distributed to his family.  He and his wife were at a resort on the north shore of Oahu.  There was a tsunami warning because of a big earthquake off the coast of Japan.  It was 10:30 PM in Oahu and the waves were expected to hit at 2:30 AM.   The hotel was having an information meeting at 11:15.  They were on the 5th floor of a 6 story building. They will send more info when they have it. And finally he sent us the name of his lawyer.

WTF!  Suddenly the news on the television was personal.  I was wide awake.  It was now 3:45 AM and everyone else on my brother’s email distribution list was likely sleeping.

I directed my Internet browser towards the resort’s website to get a look at this 6 story building my younger brother was staying at.   It looked to be a well constructed concrete structure, but it was right on the shore line!  The TV just had a picture of a building in Japan falling into the water.

I started switching the TV between FoxNews and CNN for news from Hawaii and surfing the web for Hawaiian news and government sites.  CNN was doing a better job than Fox in covering the events.  A web cam from Waikiki was playing loud Hawaiian music that woke up my wife.

One of the news stations had an announcement that Hawaiian police were instructing locals to follow evacuation routes to higher ground and instructing visitors to return to their hotels. WTF!  Locals are being told to head up the mountains and visitors are being told to head towards the water!  The news shows on TV were talking about something called “vertical evacuation” which means get to the highest floor in the building. There was footage of another building in Japan falling into the water and the wave in Japan was on fire.  I don’t know about this vertical evacuation business. 

I checked out the evacuation maps on the Hawaiian state website.   If it were me and my wife at that resort, we would leaving that 6 story building on the beach and hiking up the mountain.  One news site said the police had established road blocks on the evacution routes.  “Where’s the jail?” I imagined myself telling the officer as I ignored his order to go back to my hotel.

No doubt my brother was getting all of his information locally.  He didn’t even know that I had read his email.

One of the Hawaiian government sites said to stay off the phone lines, land and cell, because heavy phone traffic can interfere with emergency communications.  I remembered that being so from 9-11. 

Michael had sent his email from his Blackberry. I sent him I text at 4:34,”Praying for you and monitoring internet for evacuation info.  I hope you are being moved away from the coast line.”   8 minutes later I get a text back from him, “Thanks, Artie. We’re on the 5th floor of a building on elevated point. 6 feet of water expected. 1st and 2nd fls evacuated as precaution. All guests in hallways.”

“I saw a photo of the building on the resort’s site,” I responded, “I would move to higher ground off the coast, but I know you will make the right decisions.”    Michael now knew that he had another source of information if he wanted or needed it.  All I could do now was pray, ask others to pray, which I did on facebook while waiting for Michael to repsond to my first text, and keep monitoring. 

It was now 4:50 AM.  What a way to start the day.    My wake up calls were just starting.

More to come later today or tomorrow.

Posted: March 12th, 2011 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Tsunami, What really matters | 3 Comments »

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