When a 5.4 magnitude earthquake struck, 25 miles southeast of the town of Gizo in the Solomon Islands on Sunday, it may not have been enough to create another tsunami, but one month after a series of waves destroyed much of the island it was sure to have brought back vivid memories. With an estimated 10,276 people, including approximately 5,200 children below 18, directly affected by the initial disaster, UNICEF called for $1.3 million this week, just to address the humanitarian and early recovery needs of children and women in the area.
 | The tsunamis swept away entire villages on the island of Gizo. |
Many once-thriving villages were reduced to nothing on the island of Gizo, and a Scientology Disaster Relief Team is using Scientology and Dianetics technology to help the villagers overcome their loss and trauma.
On the 2nd of April early in the morning, the 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck, off the coast of the western province of the Solomon Islands, 1,000 miles northeast of Australia. An Australian Scientology Volunteer Minister (VM) was in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, carrying out a training and recovery operation in that region to help with the damage from last summer's earthquake. When he heard the news he decided to leave immediately to lead the Scientology Disaster Relief Team in the Solomon Islands. He caught a flight to Honiara, the capital of the Solomons. From Honiara he took the 1-hour flight to a landing strip on the small island of Gizo, the area hardest hit by the earthquake and the three tsunami waves it caused.
On arriving, he met with members of the other relief agencies already on the ground; they were happy to have someone with his experience, as it was clear to all of them that trauma relief would be a vital component in helping Gizo recover from this catastrophe.
The first village the VM came to was deserted when he arrived. The people of this village were terrified of another tsunami, and had grabbed what belongings they still could lay their hands on and camped out in the hills.
In the village of Titiana the VM met a man named Timuro, who told him how the disaster had unfolded. Timuro was on the hill behind the village on his way to work on the other side of the island when he felt the earthquake. He turned back to help his village and as he started down the hill he saw the first tsunami wave surging in. He tore down the hillside to get to his wife and 14-month-old baby girl who were still in their home, right in the path of the wave. By the time he reached the bottom of the hill, the water up to his waist. Then, off the coast, he saw the earth open and the sea start to pour in. Millions of gallons of water were swallowed up by the gash in ocean floor. The second tsunami wave, now surging in toward the island, reached the fissure and poured into the chasm it created.
Timuro anticipated what was about to come, and ran back to higher ground, helping others along the way, and when he looked back he saw the third five-foot high tsunami approaching. Just as the third wave was about to hit the coast, suddenly the crack in the sea floor sealed up and all the water that had poured into it geysered back out, turning the 5-foot-high wave into a 15- to 24-foot-high wall of water that came crashing down on the island.
Timuro ran to higher ground, grabbing a woman who had just broken her leg and dragging her to safety, and helping the other villagers he found.
As soon as the water started to recede, Timuro began his search for his family. He finally found his wife at the top of the hill where she had tried to carry their daughter Lina to safety. But Lina was carried off by the tsunami. It wasn't till much later that the child's body was found, and they buried her on the hill—a hill the villagers have now renamed Mount Lina in the little girl's memory.
The Volunteer Ministers helped Timuro and his wife with Dianetics counseling, and they are training the villagers in these techniques, so they can join them in helping all those who were affected by the disaster.
In his essay titled Religious Influence on Society, L. Ron Hubbard wrote, "If one does not like the crime, cruelty, injustice and violence of this society, he can do something about it. He can become a VOLUNTEER MINISTER and help civilize it, bring it conscience and kindness and love and freedom from travail by instilling into it trust, decency, honesty and tolerance."
The Volunteer Ministers Disaster Relief team is supported entirely by donations. For information on how you can join the team or help fund their work, visit www.volunteerministers.org
Spread the News:
Vote for or comment on this story on Netscape:
If you like this story, press the up arrow below to vote for it on Reddit:
|
|
