No, there was no tsunami here

Clodagh called this morning at 5:30 AM to say that there had been an earthquake in Tonga, and there was a tsunami warning for New Zealand (which she learned via a phone call from her mother in Ireland).

"What parts of New Zealand?" I asked.

"I think all of it," she answered.

This seemed improbable. For one, Tonga is well north of New Zealand. If anyone was going to get washed away in a tidal wave, it would be those folks living on the north-facing east coast. Second, where we live in Wellington, we have no direct contact with the ocean-at-large. It's a very well-sheltered harbor. I asked what time it was supposed to hit, and she said sometime around 7:00. I thanked her and tried to go back to sleep. Around 6:30, I thought I heard more sea-bird sounds than what I thought was normal, but after not dying for several more minutes, I finally fell back to sleep.

However, this is one big example of "it's the thought that counts!" Thank you, Clodagh, for thinking to save our lives. Our friend Kevin, upon learning that we and some other friends had gotten phone-calls, said, "Oh, and I was just to drown, I guess!" Nah. I just gambled that I was correct about us being spared... gambled WITH OUR LIVES!