Remaining Guam amid bomb threats
North Korean tension looms, but the U.S. island territory is taking situation in stride
INARAJAN, GUAM— Against the back wall of the command centre at Guam Homeland Security, a nondescript telephone is perched on a shelf. It’s the phone no one in the room wants to hear ringing: It alerts Guam to an incoming ballistic missile.
A call on this phone would only come from the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii to inform Guam of the impending strike.
If it were to ring, a blue light would flash and immediately set into motion a chain of emergency response procedures to alert all of Guam’s roughly 162,000 civilians of the threat within two minutes. Workers at the Homeland Security office have been on 24-hour duty fielding questions from residents and the media since North Korea warned last week it was preparing a missile test that would create an “enveloping fire” in the waters off Guam.
“Guam has been through super- typhoons, an 8.2 earthquake, tsunami warnings — just about anything and everything that can threaten this tiny little island — so we’ve been conditioned to stay calm in a situation like this,” said Dee Cruz, the office’s grants manager and senior desk watch officer. “I’m not saying we look danger in the face and dare it to do its worst,” she added, “we just know what to do to prepare.”
But being ready for a ballistic missile strike is not like preparing for a typhoon. For one thing, tropical storms move at an average speed of about 20 km/h, giving people several days to prepare. A ballistic missile launched from North Korea, however, would take just 17 minutes to hit the waters off the island.
Despite North Korea’s threat to lob a missile toward Guam, many residents seem to be taking things in stride. Guam’s largest supermarket chain, Pay-Less Supermarkets, has not seen any unusual shopping activity in its eight stores, said Kathy Sgro, the company’s executive vicepresident.
“While we haven’t noticed an increase in sales of canned goods, bottled water or emergency items such as candles and batteries, we have seen a small spike in sales of antacids and milk of magnesia, which makes me wonder if people are experiencing higher levels of anxiety than usual,” Sgro said.
Regine Biscoe Lee, a senator in Guam’s Legislature, thinks there is a heightened sense of anxiety among the people of Guam but said her office had not received any calls regarding the North Korean threat.
“Here on Guam it’s business as usual, but that doesn’t mean we’re turning a blind eye to the situation,” she said. “Faith and family — that’s what people cling to here on Guam. When things get serious, we stick together, and we’re here for one another.”