Andrew Ah Young, who graduated from UNM in May, said his family felt the earthquake that hit his hometown in American Samoa before the tsunami waves washed everything away last week.
Tsunami waves poured over American Samoa on Sept. 29 after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck the small cluster of South Pacific islands.
Young said he started to panic as he learned there were casualties.
“It wasn’t until I noticed that people had gone missing and some dead that I began to break down,” he said in an e-mail. “I felt powerless, helpless, scared, angry, sad and very lonely. My whole family is in Samoa. I have no one else.”
Young said the tsunami wreaked havoc on coastal villages, such as Fagasa and Faleniu. Young’s family lives in Fagasa.
Many of his family members were left homeless and some are living with his parents in Faleniu, he said.
“Because the earthquake was so strong, it shook homes,” he said. “No one was safe, not even people living inward of Samoa. My mom says there are cracks in our house — things fell apart during the earthquake.”
Young’s aunt knew a tsunami was on its way to the island because the tide had receded about half a mile and she could see the entire ocean floor. She told the family to get to higher ground.
“They drove to higher elevation and in a few minutes huge waves came crashing down on their houses,” Young said. “They watched as the whole village was wiped away.”
Young graduated from UNM in May with a bachelor of science degree in biology. He is now getting his Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Young said he didn’t know a natural disaster had hit close to his home until he checked his Facebook account.
“My friends had commented on my page asking how my family was,” he said. “I didn’t know what they were talking about until I started reading the news about the tsunami.”
As his friends kept updating their Facebook pages, he felt his heart drop, he said. He tried to call his family and couldn’t reach them.
“I tried calling my mom, but the phone lines were shut down,” he said. “It was frustrating. It’s one thing to see pictures of the damage, and another to be in the middle of the devastation.”
Young said he then went to an isolated corner in the laboratory where we works and prayed.
Young said he used Facebook chat to ask a friend in Samoa to call his house.
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“She tried, but no one picked up,” he said. “She kept trying for an hour or so, until my mom picked up. I told my friend to tell my mom that I love her so much and to please be safe.”
Shannon McCoy-Hayes, Young’s undergraduate biology adviser, said she learned of how the disaster affected Young’s family through Facebook messages and photo album links.
“I could hear the anguish that he was feeling,” she said. “He wanted to fly home immediately to help out but felt that it might be a bad idea since resources are so scarce on the islands right now. I just felt so badly for him.”
Young said the UNM community has been supportive. He’s gotten countless text messages and calls from friends and mentors.
“On my way home after work, Maggie Werner-Washburne finally got ahold of me,” he said. “By this time, I still couldn’t get ahold of my family. I really couldn’t contain my emotions anymore and I broke down crying. I don’t know if Maggie understood any word I said, because I mumbled.”
Werner-Washburne is the director of Initiatives for Minority Student Development, and Young worked with her in the research program while he studied at UNM.
McCoy-Hayes sent an e-mail to undergraduate and departmental listservs Sept. 30, letting everyone know what had happened to Young’s family and what UNM could do to help him.
“I hope that Andrew doesn’t mind that I did this,” she said in an e-mail. “He did not ask me to. It was just the fastest and easiest way I knew of to help him, his family and his hometown out and to let everyone at the biology department, his friends and professors know that he was OK.”
Young said Samoans are in dire need of food, water and clothes.
“In addition to material things, please continue to pray for Samoa,” he said. “Also, please pray for the people of Indonesia, as they too are experiencing the worst of Mother Nature.”
*To donate money to victims of the disaster in American Samoa and countries in Southeast Asia, contact the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund at www.redcross.org.
PULL QUOTE:
“It wasn’t until I noticed that people had gone missing and some dead that I began to break down,” he said. “I felt powerless, helpless, scared, angry, sad and very lonely. My whole family is in Samoa. I have no one else.”*
