Tangi Ke to all - Observations from Mangaia in the Cook Islands

Tangi Ke to all,
I come from a little island in the Pacific, Mangaia - one of the 15 islands that make up the Cook Islands. This island is made up of rock cliff and rock formations on a 3 tier level with acid soil on the mountains and in the centre, a lake and masses of swamp land used for taro plantations. Pineapples used to be grown all over the island many years ago but pine forests were planted in its place to deal with the soil erosion from the pineapple plantations. Now that Govt ceased funding to care for the forests, the pines have spread uncontrolled islandwide and there is suspicion raised that these masses of trees are also eating into the water supply of the island. This of course is yet to be proven along with the acidity that the pine needles contribute to the already acidic soils on the mountaintops.

Recently, there was a batch of frequent earthquakes around the world whose effects rippled through the Pacific region. Because of Mangaia’s high cliffs, it is usually not prone to the effects of such a warning. However, shortly after the cyclones in January and February this year (one of which caused severe damage to another island – Aitutaki) a tsunami warning was issued to the whole of the Cook Islands resulting from an earthquake in Chile. Although noone monitored any sea surge movement, the island evacuated to designated safe points and it is not known whether we did experience any unusual patterns as was forecasted. A week after this emergency however, one cliff face in one of the villages on island experienced a bout of freak waves that washed over 20m high cliffs and onto the coastal roads, something never before experienced by the habitants of the island. This was a concern by the locals who did not actually witness the waves but saw the remnants for wave activity and how far it had washed the debri that clearly came from the seas below. Even the local fishermen found odd amounts of debris in the sea below that could only have come from the land during the surges.

Cyclone season is from November to April each year and this year, a bout of cyclones one after another (5) hit us in a span of just a over a month). The winters on Mangaia, which are usually the coldest in all of the Cook Islands, have recently been at its coldest and the summers at extreme warms and drys with occasional droughts with little or no rain. One can only assume that these strange weather patterns are also a part of the noticeable global climate change experienced recently.

Meitaki Ngao,

Helen Marion Henry
Acting Secretary
Mangaia Island Administration
PO Box 10
Oneroa
Mangaia
COOK ISLANDS
Ph (682) 34 289 Fx (682) 34 238
Email: miadmin@mangaia.net.ck