Whacked in the ear - Tai Herman

Tai Herman once thought himself a brave man, afraid of nothing. Shark? Right. Bring it on.
And then he found himself caught in the maw of cyclone Pat.
“This one really made my pants wet,” says Herman, the mayor of Aitutaki.
After sending the members of his Disaster Management team home about an hour before Pat destroyed their office, Herman and the chief of police sought shelter at the post office when the storm struck.
“We drove expecting at any time that a piece of roofing iron or timber would come right through the screen into us,” says Herman. “We felt safe at the post office and then realized we were stuck there.
“It was so scary because you’re sitting there thinking, when is the building going. And if it’s gone, you’re gone too.”
Herman survived, of course, and now he’s working hard to ensure Aitutaki completes a full recovery. He is so busy, in fact, that he barely has time to sit down for an interview.
He is pleased at how the overall cleanup is progressing — although the large amount of loose roofing iron lying around worries him, considering it’s still technically cyclone season. But he is encouraged by the help from both outside and inside the country.
“We are so grateful that these people came to our aid,” he says. “Red Cross has been very active on the island and Government has been very, very helpful with us. Government put aside some money that we can tap into immediately.”
A call to Rarotonga for skilled tradespeople has resulted in another problem for Herman, albeit one he doesn’t mind dealing with.
“They’re coming out of my ears,” he says of the workers who have arrived to help. “I don’t know how to accommodate them.”
With power and water and other necessities almost completely online, Herman says he’s now most concerned about the homeowners who lost everything.
“A lot of people, it took them years to get to where they were and — overnight — gone,” he says. “We’re trying to find ways to comfort them, to give them confidence, asking them not to leave. Asking them to stay. Because they may think the best way out of this is to buy an aircraft ticket and they’re gone.”
Those who do leave will miss out on Herman’s promise that Aitutaki will be a better, safer place once reconstruction is completed, if only because there will be a building code and it will be adhered to.
“This is a lesson,” he says. “You cut corners, you get whacked in the ear.”
Everything to do with the island’s recovery comes down to money and Herman has no idea who is going to pay for it.
“We hope Father Christmas will come early,” he says, only half joking.
Asked if it breaks his heart to look at all the destruction wreaked on his island, Herman can only nod.
“Yes, it does,” he says. “I know it’s going to recover, but to see the place like this . . .”
He can’t finish his sentence. The words won’t come. Instead, he rushes off. He has things to do. He has an island — and all its residents — to help heal.
It’s a formidable task but, then again, Tai Herman doesn’t scare easy.