Tsunami warning in Taitung!

I was teaching my last class of the day when the 9.0 earthquake hit Japan. We didn't feel it, thank goodness. After class I checked my Facebook and saw my cousin asking if I was ok because Japan had had a 8.9 earthquake. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I wrote back that we were all ok. I went down to the office to ask if anyone else had heard about it. (Nobody had.) Everyone jumped on their computers to see what was happening; in Chinese of course. I went up to talk to the other English teacher because I know she has friend that are from and live in Japan. There was quite a buzz after that. I came back down stairs to finish up some lesson planning and then decieded to go outside and watch the 6th graders play dodgeball. About 3:45pm an annoucement came over the loud speaker that school was dismissed and that students needed to immediately get ready to go home and line up on the field. (This is 15 minutes early. WEIRD.) The kids were angry because their game wasn't over but the teachers knew something must be wrong. I ran back to the office to ask what was going on and they said that a tsunami had hit Japan and might hit Taitung at 5:30. I couldn't believe it! The video on CNN was ... unreal or at least it felt that way at the time. I kept thinking this can't be real. There was so much going on around me as people were getting ready to leave. I called home and told my family that there was a warning out but that I would be ok so not to worry. My school is on the other side of the mountian from the ocean and I wouldn't go back into town until the warning lifted. I didn't really know what to do or think. I tried to call friends to see what they were doing but all the phones were down. I drove back as far into town that I felt safe and went up on a mountianside that looked over Taitung. And then I waited.. and waited and waited. There were tons of people up there but it was relatively quiet. We were all lost in thought and all the what ifs running through our heads. At about 6:30 we were told that the danger had pasted so I went to eat dinner and went home to watch CNN. It is scary to know that something like a tsunami could wipe everything and everyone out. Taitung lays at and below sea level so if it were to ever really happen it would be devastating. My heart and prayers go out for the people of Japan right now. I can only imagine what they have been through and are currently going through. May God be with you all.


Taitung city



Waiting for the Tsunami