My uncle was in a Tsunami??

[LuminousMom]

So my uncle is one of those adventurous types who has done it all... climbed Kilimanjaro, climbed Everest, leads expeditions to far off places.. hes been on magazine covers and all that... he even does grand canyon rafting in/hiking out week long hold onto your ass tours that I am WAY too wussy to do..

Well his most recent thing is he decided to get cert'd for first aid.. he has been a "captain" or something to that affect in search and rescue for over 30 years but now he is licenced as a paramedic too, so he can help even more. Lately hes been teaching, mostly.. training more people to do what he does and how to react in situations and all that.. but I guess a few weeks ago they sent him to this place called Wake Island. Its out in the middle of nowhere and its basically a place for planes to emergency land.

Its a freaking tropical paradise.. but only people who work there are allowed there, there really arent "native" people to the island... just around 300 military personnel. So because there are military personnel there, they need a paramedic on staff so thats my uncle for right now... people take "shifts". 

Well, the highest point of the island is only 6 meters.. so 18 feet, and its a V shaped island with only 6.5 sq km of "area".

Apparently, the other night my uncle woke up to a weird sound, looked out the window, and saw a TRUCK floating by his window. Knowing that the island is only 18 feet high in its highest place... he was obviously freaked.. he got out of bed and opened the door... woops, 6 feet of water rushed in. He took a mattress to the chest so hes banged up but he was OK. They drove the ambulance to the highest point of the island and saved it.

There are about 700 people on the island right now because they are re-building the runway, so they have a bunch of construction workers from Thailand there helping. Nobody was killed, but there are injuries (like my uncles.) Because everyone that is there is either military, or a worker, it wasnt that bad. The other side of the island wasnt even affected, apparently. The military actually called my grandma to tell her what was going on.. and to tell her my uncle was alive and all that.. but we cant find any stories in regards to the Tsunami when we look online.

A Tsunami! but I cant find any info on it! I googled it like 8 times but I cant get any information on a Tsunami! This would have been only 2-3 days ago.. but my grandma just told me about it now.  How bizarre is that? I dont know if my uncle was exaggerating because I cant find any stories about it online! WTF? You'd think if there was a Tsunami.. even a small one.. we would know about it.. but maybe because Wake Island is considered a military base they didnt feel the need to report it.. no civilians.. no casualties.. so weird.... but he is OK and thats whats important.

I dont know if I would be so excited about it as he is... hes been approached to write a book in the past.. he says he could write about this, too... I dont know, lol. I might stay off islands for awhile if I were him but.. to each his own. One funny thing though... is that one of the Thai construction workers has work a life jacket ever since and refuses to take it off. Even when hes working. Kinda funny :)

[moomers]

Dec. 12, 2008 at 11:40 AM

Wow--Sounds like he might have enjoyed it a little!!!Those adrenaline junkies are a different kind of breed!! LOL Keep us updated.

[moomers]

Dec. 12, 2008 at 11:43 AM

BTW-I've been meaning to get back to you on a fabric for my daughter.I've been terribly sick.Do you have anything light green or blue that works for a teenager?Thanks