Loss ‘still really emotional’
Parents wonder what might have been for daughters lost in tsunami
Ten years have passed and even a sudden change in the wind can take Kerry Martin back to the day a tsunami struck — taking two of his daughters with it.
“I remember everything clearly,” he says quietly.
“The weather today is much like it was then — it’s windy and cold.
“We’re still living on the farm — although we’re not actually farming the farm itself — and we still live among our community that supported us.”
The now 62-year-old and his wife Lynne were at home in Matamata when news broke that an initial 8.1 magnitude earthquake had struck off the southern coast of Samoa, triggering a tsunami.
It was in the early hours Tuesday, September 30 (NZT).
Two of their four daughters — Rebecca, 24, and Petria,
22 — were holidaying there with a cousin and a friend.
The Martins would soon learn that all four young women had been swept away as they tried to outrun giant waves not seen in recent times in Samoa. Only two would make it out alive.
“It’s still really, really emotional,” Kerry Martin said.
“In the past two years, it’s taken me quite a bit of time to get over the emotional toll that that took.
“Eight years later, it really, really hit home how big an event it was. Nevertheless, we’ve managed to regroup.”
An estimated 184 people were killed that day in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. quite of Most of the damage was in Samoa, where whole villages were flattened and dozens of people within single families dead. Up to 4500 people lost their homes.
The Martins have been back to Samoa three or four times in the past 10 years. The first trip was to bring their daughters’ bodies home.
Since then, time has changed — quite literally.
A decade ago, Samoa was a day behind New Zealand. Today, we are in the same time zone after a decision was made for the country to make the switch in 2011.
The feeling that something — or someone — is missing, however, remains.
Kerry said he and Lynne often thought about the lives their girls could have led, the families they could have had and the mothers they might have been.
“It’s just something you can’t not think about.
“It’s something you learn to live with — certainly something you’ll never forget.”
The girls’ friends remain in touch and share special life moments with them also.
“A lot of them are married now and they have children of their own. We’ve been invited to first birthdays and weddings and all that sort of thing.
“Despite the fact that Rebecca and Petria aren’t here, we’ve been very fortunate to still sort of have the people in their lives in our lives still.”
On the anniversary of the tragedy, church services will be held and prayers will be said around Samoa and particularly in the Aleipata district — the most devastated.
For the Martin family, including their other daughters Kristi and Zoe
HWatch video at nzherald.co.nz and their families, they will simply come together to share a Sunday meal and stories about Petria and Rebecca.
“We’re just going to be at home, which is pretty much what we’ve done every year.
“Our other daughters and their families are coming too and that’s us. Nothing special. It’s something that we remember every day of our lives.
“I think we might get all the old photos — which we haven’t sort of been able to do — see them when they were babies and little ones.”
They will enjoy time with their three granddaughters and grandson who are all growing up very much knowing about their aunties.
“It’s hard. But at the same time, you’ve got to keep moving forward, don’t you?”