Daily Kos' samoashark: American Samoa Tsunami-A Personal Story

[Louisiana1976]

It’s been a bad week. Tuesday morning, an 8.1 earthquake rocked our island. We get lots of small, barely noticeable quakes. We usually smile a bit at the wake-up call and go on about our business. Tuesday morning the house started to shake – and shake harder – and sway on its foundation. The intensity kept building. The quake lasted long enough for Mr. Shark and I to argue about whether we should head for doorways or outside. Doorways won, because they were closer. I held on to our daughter; he held on to the nearby tv. (And THAT will be fodder for family stories for years to come!) After three or so minutes, the violent shaking stopped.

We looked outside. The ocean is about 70 yards away. Our house is on a cliff about 40 feel above sea level. Everything looked normal. – bright blue sky, bright blue ocean, no visible cracks in our walls, the one house next to us still standing. The neighbors walking out – also looking at the ocean.

snip

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/3/789418/-American-Samoa-Tsunamia-personal-story

[Swamp Rat]

1. k&r

[Zoeisright]

2. Wow. What an amazing post.

K&R

[tabatha]

3. Interesting

But DailyKos is a political blog, not my private therapist, so here is the connection. I lurk at FreeRepublic. DK is fire-walled at work and when I’m really bored, I like to see what the wingnuts are saying. There have been a few stories there about the tsunami, always followed by inane comments bashing President Obama for treating us worse than Bush treated the Katrina victims. This morning, as we see FEMA and other relief agency boots on the ground and as we receive our third message of condolence from President Obama, I finally registered at FR.

One post. A futile attempt to correct the record.

I know.

It won’t matter.

The sky and the ocean are still bright blue.

I heard nothing about the relief for Samoa. Maybe it was so effective, it was not even noteworthy.

[aquart]

4. Before I hit the link and continue reading....

I know what happens when you go to look at the ocean after an earthquake. That's a killer place to put the -snip-