CHUUK, Micronesia (7 July 2002) -- On July 1st and 2nd, super Typhoon Chata'an dumped torrents of rain on the islands of Chuuk, causing some 40 landslides that killed at least 39 people and destroyed over a thousand homes. Chuuk Governor, Ansito Walker, has declared a state of emergency and closed all offices and schools. Chuuk public affairs director Gideon Kikku has issued an urgent plea for emergency disaster relief. "We cannot handle the situation," said Chuuk public affairs director Gideon Kikku. "We are trying to dig bodies out...some people are still buried in the dirt. We need help from foreign governments...our people need clothes, medicines, housing materials." Captain Lance Higgs of the SS Thorfinn sailed into Truk Lagoon as Chata'an hit Chuuk and filed this eye-witness report with CDNN: "Thanks to everyone at CDNN for the concerns and quick response to problems at Paradise...this storm was a 'winger' and certainly left its mark on this seldomly storm touched lagoon. It was the wettest storm I've observed out here in 21 years of enjoying mystiques of this fine water world. We came in from Pohnpei completing our Pan Micro cruise, on the early wings of it with a 15 foot following sea that added to our guest pleasures of observing a true weather-ship in its natural element. The storm increased shortly after and by weekend was dumping volumes of rain without much letup. The two final days of Monday/Tuesday, July 1 & 2 was a continual deluge and brought down whole mountainsides onto villages below. Giant water storage tanks mounted on several hillsides came down with the mess, and may actually have caused some of the worst slides with their much added weight contributing to the cause. | | There were some very sad stories of families clutched together in death under the mud, and many maimed bodies from the debris. Nearly 40 dead and approx 100 injured...the hospital was stripped of its supplies and many injured were going untreated with gangrene setting in. The airline is back on sched now and hopefully has rushed in emergency aid supplies to treat them. Outer island atolls lost many of their taro patches with sea water flooding, and along with flying bananas, coconuts, breadfruit, mango's and the like have lost most of their natural food supplies. Ships are being organized to aid them. The after side of the storm was the most severe after several hours of calm at the eye, with SW gusts to 75 knots on Tuesday. The rain was the worst aspect of it. The same storm 'Chata'an' slammed into Guam yesterday with sustained winds of 115 knots plus... but their building construction is substantially capable of these onslaughts being in the center of 'Typhoon Alley', and only created severe flooding and major island wide power outages. Diving has returned as our main activity, even tho' many portions of the lagoon are temporarily clouded from the runoff. Despite the tragic loss of life and all of the work that needs to be done to help the many victims and their families, I can report to Cyber Diver readers that all's fine aboard Thorfinn as well the other liveaboards based in Truk Lagoon and the local day charter dive ops are all up and running. On behalf of everyone in Chuuk, we would appreciate whatever support the dive community can give us." Captain Lance Higgs, SS Thorfinn © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORKSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
