Shake, Rattle, and Roll with a dash of March Madness

Malo e lelei. I think that this week might be the most unusual week so far in Tonga for me. Apparently, on Monday, an underwater volcano erupted about 6 miles off the coast of Tonga. Nothing dramatic happened except for the the fact that a huge plume of steam and smoke rose out of the water and was visible almost everywhere in Tongatapu. That is if you were paying attention. I was not. So it was not until Thursday afternoon that I was aware of the geological event. Anywho, Friday morning began at its normal pace for me, and while getting ready an earthquake began to shake. No big deal, not uncommon for these parts, and they generally only last a few seconds. However, this particular earthquake was a bit stronger, and 15 seconds into the earthquake I began to wonder if I should proceed outside (in all honesty, if I was in bed I probably would have just rolled back over). Finally after about 35 seconds the quake ended, and the audible cheers and clapping of my Tongan neighbors that sang in chorus with the rumbling earth and creaking houses ceased and life went back to normal. Or so I thought. I proceeded into town where I recieved a call from the emergency coordinator telling to be prepared and call my contact group and let them know of a possible Tsunami. As with all communication in Tonga, by the timethe warning had reached all volunteers, the warning had been cancelled for probably over an hour. Needless to say there was no Tsunami, and nothing was damaged. I did find out the quake was 200 km south of Tonga, and was 7.9 on the rhicter scale. After all that excitement, I have just been organizing the March Madness pool among the volunteers, and updating people on the scores. GO ASU, way to beat Temple. All in all, a very interesting week.