Bracing for Disaster Amid Tsunami Warning

ByABC News
May 3, 2006, 3:09 PM

May 3, 2006 — -- The last thing Johnny Matakiyaroi expected during his overnight guard shift at the U.S. Embassy in Fiji was a call from the ABC News desk in the United States. Over the next two hours, I learned that Johnny had a wife and three kids.

"The family lived up on a hill," Matakiyaroi said, "so they should be OK if a big wave hit."

For two hours we waited, together, both hoping that Fiji would be spared the devastation that struck South Asia a little over a year ago. I called the embassy the moment I received a release from the United Sates Geological Survey center at 11:58 a.m. advising that a magnitude 8 quake had hit in Tonga.

Immediately, tsunami warnings were issued for other countries in the region, with Fiji being the first big nation in line for a hit. Knowing that American embassies are staffed 24 hours a day, I called the embassy hoping someone would pick up the phone. For the next two hours, Matakiyaroi and I became very good friends.

Matakiyaroi is a native Fijian who might be the bravest person I have ever spoken to. I had the easy job: sitting in my nice office on the Upper West Side of Manhattan while Matakiyaroi sat in the American Embassy frightened with the thought of possibly being under tons of water if Fiji was hit.

You see, the American Embassy sits just feet from the sea, and Johnny knew if a large wave hit his island there was a good possibility that he would never see his family again. But instead of running home to be with them, he stayed on the telephone with me, praying that this would not be his last conversation.

I learned over the next two hours that Matakiyaroi's kids are 14, 7 and 2. He is 37 years old, and he and his wife will celebrate a big anniversary this year. I also learned that Matakiyaroi spent his overnight shifts at the embassy listening to American music on several radio stations that broadcast throughout the night.

Matakiyaroi was not happy that this night those stations continued to play music rather than giving listeners updates on the impending tsunami.

"An election issue it will be after I write my editorial," Matakiyaroi said as we waited to find out if there would be a tomorrow for him and many of his fellow Fijians.