Tsunami survivor, 28/2

It is certainly serious business moving across the globe – today I survived my first tsunami! I was woken up at 6.30 in the morning by family calling me from Denmark, warning me about the potential threat caused by the earthquake in Chile. They sounded very worried, so I got up and on the Internet to try and figure out what all the fuzz was about. At first, the info was quite sparse, but from the very beginning it seemed safe for me to stay (which I was expecting, since I live a few kilometres from the coast). Water levels were expected to rise up to one meter at most of the east coast, and up to three meters at a few places, and when the tsunami struck later today, all that happened was that the water front went back and forth a few times, not rising noticeably higher than at high tide later on at the same day. Surely the forces in play have still been incredible, but as long as we stayed away from the beach there was nothing to be worried about, and it was only those camping or living right down to the water front that were advised to seek higher ground.

The more interesting aspect of the whole tsunami deal was to compare the news in the Danish and New Zealand press. In Denmark it was said that a tsunami would be threatening all pacific coastlines, not mentioning anything about the expected strength of the rising waters, which of course brought back pictures of the big tsunami five years ago and scared my family in Denmark. The kiwi news was that a tsunami would strike, but with waves no higher than one meter in my area. In fact, they had to emphasise the danger that is still connected to waves this “small”, since the police and civil defence feared that people would rush to the beach to watch the water coming in. Therefore, I went back to sleep for a few hours before getting up, and when the tsunami came in around 10 and proved itself to be as small as expected, I texted the guys in DK to tell them that I was sure to survive the wave.