{"id":6041,"date":"2019-03-17T22:14:53","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T06:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alaskaumc.org\/?p=6041"},"modified":"2024-09-24T16:02:28","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T23:02:28","slug":"tsunami-hospitality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/tsunami-hospitality\/","title":{"rendered":"Tsunami Hospitality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>By Rev. Lisa Talbott, Homer UMC<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alaskaumc.files.wordpress.com\/2019\/03\/tsunami-taillights.jpg?w=768&#038;resize=263%2C350\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6039\" width=\"263\" height=\"350\" \/><figcaption>A line of cars evacuating the Homer Spit and other low-lying coastal areas after the November 30, 2018, 7.1 earthquake rocked South Central Alaska.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In Homer, Alaska, a traffic jam is when four cars pull up to\nthe flashing red light at the same time, or when a moose decides to walk down\nthe middle of the road instead of sticking to the sidewalk, or when a float\nplane is pulled out of Beluga Lake and towed to the airport down the street.\nThese are some of the charms of small town life in Alaska, but on the morning\nof November 30, 2018, I found myself in a very different kind of traffic jam.\nAs I pulled out of my street with my husband in his truck behind me, we were\nmet with almost a mile of cars lined up heading into town away from the Homer Spit\nand the coast. A 7.1 earthquake had just hit South Central Alaska, and a\ntsunami warning had been issued. We were evacuating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tsunami warning siren screamed in background as Joe and\nI threw clothes, electronics, chargers, meds, and toiletries into a suitcase.\nJoe ran upstairs and started packing food and bottles of water while I put our\ntwo parrots in their traveling cages, gathered up spare dishes, and packed\ntheir food and water. We loaded a laundry basket with piles of blankets and\nextra hats, gloves, and coats. We had to get to the church and open it up. Over\nand over again we heard the announcement interspersed with the tsunami siren,\n\u201cA tsunami warning has been issued for this area. Tune to your local radio\nstation for more information.\u201d As we dialed up KBBI, we heard, \u201cEvacuate,\nevacuate. Go to an evacuation shelter at the Homer High School or the Homer\nUnited Methodist Church.\u201d Police cars were starting to cruise the neighborhood,\nchecking that everyone was packing up and heading out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-videopress\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Homer Siren\" width='696' height='392' src='https:\/\/videopress.com\/embed\/NaSqI7xa?hd=0' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen><\/iframe><script src='https:\/\/v0.wordpress.com\/js\/next\/videopress-iframe.js?m=1435166243'><\/script>\n<\/div><figcaption>Rev. Lisa Talbott stands at the doorway of the Homer United Methodist Church on the morning of the November 30, 2018, 7.1 earthquake, as the tsunami warning siren blares across town.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Leaving behind so many things \u2013 important documents and most\nof our worldly possessions \u2013 we loaded up our vehicles and headed to the\nchurch. It\u2019s only a mile away, but most importantly, it\u2019s up hill, away from\nthe danger of the inundation zone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we got to church, we leapt into action. People were\ngoing to be cold, hungry, and scared. Joe unlocked the building, started the\ncoffee and hot water urns, and filled all the pitchers in the church kitchen\nwith water before setting up tables and chairs around an old boom box with the\nlocal radio station playing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I took the parrots and all our personal belongings to my\noffice. By this time, my phone was blowing up with texts from colleagues,\nfriends, and family from all over Alaska and the Lower 48 wondering if we were\nsafe. Members of the congregation were checking in, letting me know that they\nhad evacuated our church elders from the inundation zone and taken them to\ntheir own homes on the ridge. The City Manager\u2019s office called to make sure we\nwere open and ready to receive evacuees. School was in session, and busses\nwhich had been dropping kids off at the high school turned right around and\ntook them home as the school parking lot began to fill up with more and more\ncars as people sought shelter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our own parking lot began to fill up. People were staying\nwarm in their cars, listening to the radio and talking to family on their\ncellphones. I started delivering cups of coffee and granola bars, chatting with\npeople, reassuring them, offering prayer. Some came inside but many preferred\nto be poised for further evacuation if necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The worst part were the rumors. Someone heard someone say\nthat the water was being sucked out of a bay on Kodiak Island. Someone else\nheard someone else say that a 30 foot wave had been spotted from the Alaska\nPeninsula. Rumor control was a major part of our hospitality ministry as we\nwelcomed scared folks in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A family with small children arrived, and I got out the\ncrayons. We used different colors to draw what the earthquake felt like. Big\nred circles for the biggest bounces all the way down to little blue lines for\nthe aftershocks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A couple of hours later when the all clear was issued, no\none was in a hurry to leave. We still had stories to tell \u2013 where we were when\nthe earthquake hit, how it felt, what fell down and broke or miraculously\nsurvived. What we threw in our cars when the call to evacuate came. The\nlaughter of poking through bags and suitcases to see what was packed and what\nwas left behind. We all wanted to stay just a little bit longer, stay together,\nwith strangers who had become friends because of what we had just been through,\nwho knew the fear that if a tsunami had struck, we would have lost everything except\neach other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few more cups of coffee later, and the church and parking\nlot emptied out. Joe and I took our tired bodies and squawking parrots home.\nWhen we walked in the front door, we said a prayer of thanks that our home was\nstill standing, that we were safe, and that our church had once again been able\nto minister to people in need in our town through our presence and hospitality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rev. Lisa Talbott of Homer UMC writes about how her church welcomes the community when the tsunami sirens <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,25],"tags":[29,30,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-6041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alaska-conference","8":"category-many-doors","9":"tag-blog","10":"tag-homer","11":"tag-one-church"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tsunami Hospitality - Greater Northwest Area | News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/tsunami-hospitality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tsunami Hospitality - Greater Northwest Area | News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rev. 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