Switching island day. We have an exit meeting with the Government Official from the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Meteorology who has been coordinating the overseas group. One of the stressful aspects of post-event reconnaissance is the need to synthesize our field observations to brief officials. We emphasize the preliminary nature of our remarks and the likelihood that some of our ideas may change and others added once we’ve had the chance to examine and thoroughly discuss our field data. Our conversation starts with the need for tsunami hazard maps that consider not only the September 29 event but other possible Pacific sources. Everything else builds upon a credible estimate of hazard – signing evacuation zones and routes, placement of evacuation/assembly sites, zoning and engineering design discussions, and educational messages. We also suggested some ideas for mapping the vulnerability of villages to tsunamis. A simple first step could be to time how long it takes to walk to a safe area and consider all areas that take ten minutes or longer problem zones that need to improve access to high ground or consider changes in land use. Our discussion touched on a number of other areas – education and outreach, building on the village structure to promote tsunami safety, design of coastal structures, formal and informal notification systems, and the need for better planning to coordinate warning response for far field events.

The skies are clear for our flight back to American Samoa and I get a good view of Amenave and Leone before we land. I check with Hawaiian on the status of my outbound flight and confirm the rumor is true. The Wednesday flight has been cancelled so I can’t leave until late Thursday which means changing the rest of my itinerary and missing another day of class. I’ve got a tight connection in Honolulu which makes me a little nervous. Get a good view of the scrap metal yard as we leave the airport. Tomorrow is a “debris day” and we hope to learn more about how the debris removal process is going.