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March 10, 2006
Tsunami Rumors
Last week I traveled to Same, in the Manufahi district of Timor. It rained, it rained hard, and it didn't stop for the four days we were out there. But the minor annoyance turned frightening, however, when the Darwin, Australia weather service called in to Dili warning of a heavy monsoon storm with an incredible low-pressure center - so low that they put out a cyclone warning - moving up towards the Timor heartland.
Within an hour I begin getting texts from friends in Dili querying, basically, whether or not I dead. In point of fact, I was actually down with another regular case of the stomach flu and would have rather been less than conscious. Thursday afternoon we left Same a bit early to avoid the storm and make a quick stop past Ainaro to talk to the radio, but upon reaching Ainaro receive word from Dili again that the cyclone warning has moved to early Friday morning and also moved towards Ainaro. As most media people do, we like to share the bad news, so we went to the radio station but found it deserted. We then stopped by the police station to see if anyone knew the radio volunteer's houses, and then did the mad-dash bouncing through the dark, rainy streets of Ainaro directed by one friendly officer, who spends most of the trip asking who the malae is, where she is from, and whether or not she can speak Tetun. I mumble the answers, far more interested in finding a safe, dry spot to curl up in and nurse my aching innards. Upon finding the radio staff, my co-worker relates the weather reports from Darwin and suggests that people should be warned about how to stay safe in heavy winds. The radio, however, was not open and hadn't been functioning due to irregular power. Shrugging his shoulders, he says that people will just spread the news and they don't need a media announcement. The police officer, listening intently, chimes in that he will let the church know and anyone else he can find of our weather news. We go back to rest before dashing to Dili the next morning, all slightly worried that the warning would never get spread - not by word of mouth in the midst of a heavy downpour.
In Dili the next day, we find out that the rumors of 'anin bo'ot' [storm, lit: big winds] and the possible rough seas [tasi sai], have been translated by a large portion of the population in all of Timor to: TSUNAMI!! Luckily there was no mass panic, despite many NGOs canceling work for 2-3 days, and when the rain stopped life went back to normal. That evening, though, I went to a salon to get the mop on my head trimmed a bit. In the midst of the Indonesian-style head massage, I hear the lady next to me recounting the panic in her neighborhood:
"Everyone was talking about big winds! We were all so scared and we brought the children inside but then later we were scared because people started talking about tsunami! We just thought it was rumors and no one knew if it was just lots of rain or if we should go to the hills, but then our cousins in Ainaro called and said that they knew there was a big 'anin bo'ot' coming, it was really big and the seas would rise and it could have been a tsunami! They said they were sure because the Americans had told the police there! Everyone was scared so we ran to our uncle's house that is inland with big walls."
Sitting silently next to her I wondered if I should say anything, but instead I made a mental note never to down the coverage (if not the accuracy) of word of mouth. What I really should have said was:
"Damn Americans. Should never believe a word they say anyways."
Posted by storbert at 9:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 8, 2006
Old and the New
The title says it all.
Old:
And new:
Posted by storbert at 9:53 PM | Comments (1)