Teachers caught near crosshairs of quake

The devastation left behind after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit a school in Padang, Indonesia, 100 miles away from teachers on leave from the Stanwood Camano School District teaching at international schools. See photo bottom right. Longtime Stanwood-

Camano School District teachers Dave and Shannon

Austin, along with John and Kathi Getzinger

are teaching at international

schools in Riau, Rumbai, Indonesia. They

experienced the earthquake that hit Sept. 30.

My daughter and I were sitting on the couch going over her math homework on September 30 when I felt the couch move.

I assumed she was pushing the couch around on the tile floor, wasting nervous energy until she could be finished and head outside to play. Then my wife, Kathi, said we’re having an earthquake. I looked up at some hanging lights in our house and could see them swaying back and forth. We all headed outside and saw the rest of the people in our neighborhood outside as well, looking up at the swaying trees and waiting to see if more was to come.

Front row) Trey Austin, 10; Sarah Austin, 12; Trent Austin, 6; Kade Getzinger, 7; Brooklyn Getzinger, 4; and Sydney Getzinger, 10. (Back row) Dave and Shannon Aus-tin, John and Kathi Getzinger Our benign experience was part of something that has changed the lives of thousands of people on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Longtime Stanwood-Camano School District teachers Dave and Shannon Austin along with my wife Kathi and I, also teachers in the Stanwood-Camano School District, are teaching at international schools in Riau, in Rumbai, Indonesia. We both have our families here.

We are located 100 miles from the area hardest hit by the devastating 7.6 magnitude earthquake that rocked the city of Padang and the surrounding area. Many people who live in our community and work at our school have been rocked to their core by this earthquake.

There are a large number of people here that grew up in the area where the most damage took place. Many have family homes that have been destroyed and many others, more than two weeks later, have not heard from family members and have come to the realization that those relatives and friends may have perished in this disaster.

The Austin’s cook, Mazni, (most Indonesians go by a single name) has a brother whose home was destroyed by the quake and now has been sleeping outside.

Like most Indonesian families, there are several generations and quite an extended family living in one home. This in turn displaces many more people when a single home is destroyed.

Our school has a driver, Sadario, who still has not heard from his family in Padang. When I asked him if he had family there he said that yes, he did. I then asked if they were safe. He said he had not gotten through to them yet.

He said communications were down. He has still not heard from them as I write this. He asked Dave and I if we were going to Padang. He said he would drive and is desperate to find out what has happened to his family. He tries to put on a happy face, but you can see the worry in his eyes.

In Indonesia, weddings are huge, all-day events with hundreds of people in attendance. There was one such wedding taking place in a village outside of Padang when the earthquake occurred. It released a rushing wall of mud and buried all of the guests and bridal party.

When you see images on television about disasters, which happen all too frequently around the world, we often become numb to them. I know that I have often watched the news regarding a major disaster and only thought briefly about the lives that were altered, or lost forever.

But when you see the pain it causes up close and personal, something in you changes. You feel a real need to help in anyway to alleviate the suffering around you.

Dave and I are trying to arrange a trip to Padang to offer any help we can. The 100 miles normally takes six hours to travel due to the underdeveloped road system here. Now however, the trip is nine hours because the roads have split wide open in the area surrounding Padang.

Our student council here at the school donated $500 worth of blankets and fresh water for those who are now sleeping outside. A parent from our school, along with the husband of our principal, took a two-day trip to a village outside Padang where no relief effort had yet been, and delivered those blankets and water. However, sleeping outside will become more and more difficult as the rainy season is about to begin.

The Indonesia people are some of the most warm and generous people I have ever met. Most people here have little money and few possessions. The average worker makes roughly $100 a month. However, almost to a fault, the people always have a smile and look out for you and your family.

We love the experience our families are getting. Being able to travel and experience so many different cultures is something we have always wanted to do. Our families are getting to see firsthand how blessed we are to live in the United States. The scope of poverty in a developing nation will force you to reassess your priorities.

Neither of our famlies has ever been around a natural disaster of this magnitude, especially one that claimed thousands of lives and displaced tens of thousands more. Experiencing the big flood last winter in Stanwood was the closest thing to a natural disaster. Unfortunately, that could not prepare us for how we were affected by this earthquake.

We hope to make several trips to the affected areas and offer up whatever we can to help them get back on their feet.

We have enlisted the help of Stanwood Middle School, Stanwood Elementary and Utsalady Elementary to run change drives to raise money for the relief effort. We are hoping to get more schools on board.

If you would like to help, World Vision International or the American Red Cross both have Web sites you can go to in order to learn more.