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Monday, March 14, 2011

Still Standing

People were bit worried here because of the Tsunami warning. We get earthquakes all the time, in fact we had a 7.3 on the Richter scale when we lived here in 2004 that knocked out power out for a week. (There was even an 8.6 earthquake back in '93 but that still didn't do too much damage) Because of the plate tectonics Guam rests on, we slosh side to side and don't have the breaking devastation like California, New Zealand or Japan. Tsunami's though are a worry for those living along the coastline.
We do have cliffs and a large reef to slow down high waves, and the Marianas Trench, which because of its depth, is supposed to strip some of the energy of a Tsunami.

Roads were closed along the beach and everyone clamored to high ground. We are blessed to live up on a cliff so we didn't have to move to a safe spot. Poor Steve couldn't even make it home from work because of the road closures. Everyone was just at a standstill traffic jam on the roads.
The kids and I grabbed the video camera and phones and went to go see what the ocean was doing. The warning was the Tsunami was to hit at 7:09pm. It gets dark here at 6:30 so the visibility was limited. At 7:50, we breathed a sigh of relief that the Tsunami probably wouldn't have the magnitude to do great damage.

The next morning I went down to the beach to do my Saturday morning run. It was closed to swimmers but there were a few diehard fishermen on the beach. The surf did rise higher by three feet during the night, and it littered the shore with broken coral and big sea cucumbers.

Now our greatest worry is the RADIATION from the exploding nuclear power plants in Japan. We have been told it poses minimal threat, but I have still been trying to get Potassium Iodide to prevent radiation poisoning. Problem is, I can't find it anywhere here and can't get it online. It all seems to backordered until the end of APRIL!! If anyone knows how to get some at their local drugstore, PLEASE let me know!

In the meantime, we restocked/repacked our 72 hour kits and try to be prepared the best we can and have faith that we will be protected.

1 comment:

MACYS said...

Get powdered kelp and take two tablespoons a day if it comes. Otherwise don't do it, to much iodine can harm the thyroid, which is the most vulnerable gland. Recommendations from Dr. Peat!