TSUNAMI!!!

In case you guys were wondering... Kwajalein is still above water and this blog author is safe and sound. As I've already explained in older blog posts, tsunamis can't really form on the atoll due to the very deep ocean shelf just offshore - it drops to over 5000 feet depth; depths of over 15,000 feet are quite common in the open ocean areas out here. The only effect we got was barely a two-foot ripple in the water that generally went around the atoll. Tides within the lagoon were affected but not much. Below is a graphic (courtesy of the British newspaper The Sun on how tsunamis form:

Of course, the powers-that-be (U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll - USAKA (pronounced, 'you-sacka')) reacted - some would say overreacted - at 22:15 local the island evacuation plan was activated with the blasting of the warning sirens. Anyone living on the first floors of family housing and BQs was ordered to evacuate and find shelter on the second or higher floors. All the ships moored in Kwaj harbor put out to sea as fast as they could haul ass.

So what do we BQ rats do when the end of the world is nigh?

THROW A TSUNAMI PARTY!!!

There was lots of drinking and singing and waiting for the catastrophe of titanic proportions that never came. Even joked about Kwaj Five-O handing out 'tsunami tickets' for not evacuating quickly enough. (Don't get me started on them; most of them are good guys but there are more than a fair share of toolbags that tar and feather 'Dein Freund und Helfer' (German for 'Your friend and helper') on the island...)

The Continental 'Island Hopper' had to leave behind on Kwaj any passengers heading to Majuro - it went directly to Honolulu. (It was running late, and would arrive around the time the tsunami was scheduled to hit Hono or shortly afterward.) The stranded passengers were sequestered in the REB (Religious Education Building) next to the chapel and were closely escorted by KPD everywhere they went (Can't let any foreign nationals wander aimlessly around a sensitive national security facility of the United States military!) The local Marshallese who live on Ebeye who were traveling to Majuro were allowed to go home. They reboarded Air Mike 956 and continued their journey on Monday.

All clear was sounded around midnight. Needless to say I was dragging my sorry ass at work the next morning; luckily I only had to work half a day on Saturday.

Saturday night at the Vets' Hall was pretty low key, considering many were recharging their batteries from the tsumami party and saving their wanton drunken debauchery for Sunday night's Saint Patrick's Day party.

Sunday night's Saint Patrick's Day party at the hall (yea, we know it's on Thursday but can't have most of the island suffering from hangovers on Friday) was very well attended, as the local band 'Insane Gecko Posse' was playing.

While yours truly would have liked to gotten his Irish on and get throroughly snockered (remember, I'm Noo Yawk Irish on my late father's side, only three generations removed from the Auld Sod), I had to work as a designated driver, as there was a last minute schedule change and the bar back couldn't make it in. (- cough - Bullshit! - cough -). So, nothing but soft drinks for me all night, and shuttling drunken revelers and their bikes on a pickup truck rented from the automotive department until about four o'clock in the morning. No big deal for me... I can wait until next weekend or next week when I fly outta here on vacation to Vegas, baby!

(EDIT 3/22/11: The Hourglass added some more detail that wasn't available when I wrote this post. A four-foot surge was recorded near the Small Boat Marina around 11:45 pm, but it was at low tide; had it been high tide we would probably have gotten about a foot or so of water on the island. There were some shallow spots lagoon sidewhere the water completely receded, then surged back - the hallmark of an imminent tsunami. The newspaper also published  a list of significant tsunamis that passed through Kwaj over the years. USAKA command learned some lessons and I wouldn't be surprised if changes are made.)