The Third Wave_ A Volunteer Story - Alison Thompson [51]
Now that we were going, it was time to move the hospital out of the old school library. As it had been one of the only buildings left standing after the tsunami, it had served as the main rebuilding hub of the village. It also had attracted a great deal of aid to Peraliya. But its time was over. Moving the hospital didn’t mean it had to close—we were still seeing over 150 new patients a day—we just needed a more appropriate building. I searched the village for a new and improved location. Meanwhile, Dr. Stein, a German doctor who had spent a few months working at our clinic and shared my vision for creating a permanent hospital in Peraliya, flew home to raise money. Dr. Stein ended up seeing our dreams through to reality. He found not only German investors but also a great Aussie architect named Justin who agreed to build the hospital.
Moving day was bittersweet and rainy, with lightning exploding outside the hospital windows. Everyone pitched in to help move the medical supplies from the library over to our new temporary medical center. I carefully took down the children’s tsunami drawings and saved them to rehang. They were historical documents just like the ones I had saved from September 11, and they, too, would have their place in history. It took a full day to move, but we felt satisfied when the work was done.
In the afternoon, Oscar and I shared a fun romantic dance in the middle of the freshly cleared old hospital building. Argentine tango had been a passion of mine ever since a beautiful Antonio Banderas look-alike taught me how to dance in an alley in Buenos Aires. At the end of our dance, Oscar plunged me backward until my hair almost touched the floor, and the villagers shrieked as if he were going to drop me. He then whipped me back up with a triple spin and a light kiss. It was a tender moment for us. We hadn’t had time in the past six months for romance, and it had sometimes left me wondering about my feelings for him. The dance reminded me of why I’d fallen in love with Oscar in the first place.
I spent my last days in Peraliya making sure that the Community Tsunami Early-Warning Center could function without me. I knew that if I was leaving town I couldn’t help the villagers individually anymore, but the tsunami center was something I felt everyone could benefit from far into the future. I hoped it would give the villagers of Peraliya, and eventually everyone along the Sri Lankan coast, some peace of mind and help them sleep soundly at night.
Dr. Novil and I hoped to install tsunami warning sirens all along the Sri Lankan coastline. We also wanted to have government-run tsunami-detecting buoys out in the Indian Ocean to record earthquakes and activity faster. But our main goal in the short term was simply to get the warning messages out to as many villagers in our area as possible, as quickly as possible. The CTEC building consisted of several computers connected to the Internet, which could receive tsunami warning messages from tsunami centers around the world. Our tsunami officers would pick up the signal and alert the villagers via a network of large sirens and loudspeakers strategically placed around the surrounding five villages. We had two recorded tapes to play: One announced that people should stay in their homes, as there was no tsunami danger; the second tape announced that a tsunami warning was in effect and instructed people to move to higher ground at once.
A group of villagers came with us to officially open the center, which was located just outside the entrance to Peraliya. Dr. Novil arranged for us to cut a yellow rope at the opening ceremony. We then sent out our first greeting via computer to other tsunami centers around the world. I had a corny idea to test the new officers, too. I looked out the window, then quickly turned to them and asked in a frightful voice, “Is there a tsunami coming?” They immediately got online and looked at the earthquake activity, then called the Sri Lankan