Editor’s Note: FEMA has declared the week of March 24 as National Tsunami Awareness Week. Below is a fictitious – but factually accurate – account of a local couple on vacation who must evacuate due to a Tsunami warning.

By Robert Ambrose

JANE: Look at beautiful view of the Caribbean Sea. This hotel window is all ours for a week.

ZYMIR: Wait ‘til sundown. (They hug. The phone rings).

JANE: (answers the phone). Mom, I came here to get away, How did you find my hotel room number? You want to talk to Zymir? Okay. (She hands the phone to Zymir).

ZYMIR: (5 minutes later) I have no idea. Ma’, you’re talking about waves. We were just about to go swimming. No. Not surfing. Don’t worry Ma’. We need lessons to surf…exactly. We’re only here for a week.

JANE: (Whispering). Hang up.

ZYMIR: Gotcha’. Talk to you. Love you. (They end the call.)

JANE: What’s my mother saying?

ZYMIR: Imminent something.

JANE: (Looking out the window). The beach got bigger. Why is the water all the way out there? Way out there and some weird noise.

HOTEL VOICE: (Hotel speakers suddenly announce) Evacuate hotel immediately. Seek high ground. Elevator prohibited.

JANE: (Opens room door, looks down hallway). The elevator is packed. Forget the elevator.

ZYMIR: (Both in the parking lot, breathing heavy). Cut your moped on. Point your moped that way. (He points in the direction of hills.)

(Five hours later).

ZYMIR: Are you glad we ran for high ground?

JANE: (nods her head and they hug). Who needs five-star hotels anyway?

ZYMIR: Yeah, we just had a snack from emergency services.

JANE: They kept barking orders like do not go back to the water.

ZYMIR: (repeating the emergency responders orders) The hotel has a foot of water around there. Downed wires can bring electrocution. Chemicals, sewage and bacteria might be floating in that water – then you’re sick.. Also, you could cut your feet if the water is hiding some junk that you walk into. I loved the part about gasoline, propane, natural gas or charcoal-burning bar-b-queuing in your house!

JANE: It’s in case the locals make a break for their homes. The snack packs are boring. But if the locals return home to their houses, no indoor bar-b-ques.

ZYMIR: Correct because fuel-burning releases a toxic odorless gas. Carbon monoxide, I believe. (He grabs another food pack). All the food at the hotel has to be trashed if it got wet.

JANE: No Yubari King Melons and saffron, eh?

ZYMIR: (looks with a twisted face at Jane). Time to call mom.

JANE: Emergency aid workers said save your cellphone battery for emergencies.

ZYMIR: Telling your mom you’re alive is…

JANE: I know but…

ZYMIR: We might be in a patch where this island has cell service. Not everywhere on this island has service. And the lines might overload with calls soon.

JANE: Why?

ZYMIR: Maybe more survivors come here. Look, we got a truckload of snack packs and phone service so kids can videogame.  

JANE: No heatstroke for the kids. The rest of us must take breaks. (Reading from her phone) Tsunamis can happen along coastlines anywhere and anytime. But the Caribbean Sea and West Coast are especially vulnerable to tsunamis. Ocean-connected river mouths, bays and lagoons are flashpoints.

ZYMIR: So we vacation in the Delaware Valley next time.

JANE: (smiling). We are from the Del-Val, you goof-ball.