On the 25th of December 2004 the world woke up to a disaster that affected all corners of the planet. Some fanatics saw this as a sign to the end of the world because most of the countries that were affected were non Christian countries. I was in semiconscious when this all happened as I was sound asleep with the radio on unsure as to what I was hearing that night. On Christmas morning in Cambodia I woke up to an ill feeling of homesickness and trying to figure out in my mind why I am in Cambodia! The year was 2004 and I was preparing for my return trip home back to Aotearoa New Zealand leaving on the 26th of December and due to arrive home on the 27th.
As the day broke through I wasn’t quiet sure if what I was hearing was right on the radio and TV. At first I thought it was my Christmas blues given the fact that I was still not in the right mind of living in Cambodia. I had just finished another year of living in Cambodia since 2003 and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to me both career wise and work wise. Something deep inside me at the time insisted that working and living in Cambodia was the right thing to do, but also on the other side of this something told me that I might just in fact be better off going home!
Again more news on the radio told me that things weren’t too good as Indonesia was woken to the shifting of undersea plates that caused a 9 Richter scale earthquake followed by a deadly Tsunami! As I packed my bags and prepared to travel back to Aotearoa New Zealand on the 26th I didn’t realize the impact and severity of the Tsunami until I reached the old Bangkok Airport in Thailand. Sitting in the Bangkok Airport everyone felt the solemnity and ill feeling in the air as I sat and waited for my connecting flight which wasn’t until 5pm that afternoon.
In the meantime I saw the faces, bruises and cuts of the people who were brought in on the domestic flights coming from Phuket and other resorts in Thailand that were affected by the Tsunami at the time. Many of the people affected were travelling on the same flight as me back to New Zealand. Throughout the whole time I was at the airport and in the plane I could see how people were speechless and lost in their own thoughts as the drama of the Tsunami started to unfold. I felt for them and the millions of people who were affect. Nonetheless I still wasn’t sure on the severity of things until I returned home.
Upon my arrival back into the Gisborne airport in the safety of my own country I realized that I had just travelled from one area of disaster to another country a world apart from one another. My whanau greeted me at the airport and my cousin Angela was crying on my shoulder as I greeted them. It was at this moment I felt the impact of everything. Although I wasn’t directly affected and I had to put everyone at ease and tell them that Cambodia was not affected by the Tsunami my cousin brought it all back home to me when she cried and I cried. I then realized how severe things were and as much as I didn’t like comparing things I had to face the reality of those who were directly affected at the time.
From the TV in the safety of my mothers home I watched how everything unfolded for the people affected by the Tsunami. I saw people dispersed, land masses destroyed and people fighting for their lives. I had to think about many friends living in Indonesia coming from Ache and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. I tried my best to call them but of course the phones were not working at the time.
Friends emailed me and emailed other friends in search of more news and hoped that they were okay. Earlier that year in 2004 I had just spent two weeks in Indonesia attending an FIM (Frontier Internship Missions) meeting and visited many friends in central Java (Yogyakarta). So I thought about my friends again and hoped that they and their families were okay.
It all seems like yesterday when this happened. Many friends continue to tell me how they were affected in someway to the Tsunami and subsequent turn of events because of this disaster. I am reminded that if anything joyous comes out of Christmas it is the lives of those who had to struggle to survive the Asian Tsunami 5 years ago.
Pacific Tsunami 2009
Several months ago I again prepared for my journey back home to New Zealand to be with family and friends in the comfort of whanau. On the 27th of September 2009 I had just departed Pochentong International Airport in Phnom Penh to make my two day journey back home on Malaysian Airlines. Upon my arrival later that evening on the 28th I just had enough strength to attend my friends wedding rehearsal, returning to her home and waking up the next day with news of another Tsunami caused by a 8.3 magnitude earthquake in the Pacific taking the lives of hundreds of people in Samoa and Tonga with other earthquakes developing simultaneously around the world coincidentally happening at the same time. Again we were in shock with the developments of natural disasters happening in the Pacific ring of fire.
Again my cousin and I, like everyone else, showed concern! In a blog I read it said that the same time an earth quake happened in Palembang Indonesia leading people into a panic with the rest of the world expressing the same concern. People automatically took the ‘lets blame the religion’ approach as Gods punishment to non Christians! saying that because Indonesia is not a Christian country God is punishing them! And yet countries like Tonga and Samoa are very devout Christian countries and yet I would like to hear the so called Christian purist make a theological claim that God was involved in this disaster too!
On the outset of both disasters in 2004 and 2009 if there is anyone to blame it is us! The people that live in this world. We are a consumer society of energy, food, water, power and natural resources. We are not looking after our planet enough and after all the high profiled meetings around the world we are still not doing enough to save our planet. Several years ago a huge ice berg broke off the south pole and found its way on the coast of the South Island in New Zealand. Although it did cause tourist interest and attraction it was a sign of things to come where the worlds water levels is rising, deforestation, pollution, and depletion of the worlds natural resources are looming in our backyards!
Let us remember them
My blog is dedicated to those who lost their lives during both disasters in 2004 and 2009 but also to the other natural disasters that have become the realities of many people around the world. To the families, friends, and communities who have lost loved ones. To the men, women and children we will never forget the names and faces of the loved ones who have passed.
