Source: USA TODAY
How seriously should Guam residents take North Korea’s missile threats? That question is on the minds of island residents as April 15, a special date for North Koreans, nears.
“Every time I think about the threat, I pray,” says Marissa Antonio, of Dededo, a village near Andersen Air Force Base, which was threatened by Pyongyang. “I am a bit scared,” she adds. “I try not to think about it, but I got to be prepared.”
Last week, North Korea moved a mid-range missile to its east coast. The missile was designed to be capable of reaching Guam, a U.S. territory with military bases.
April 15 is a looming date because it is the 101st birthday of North Korea’s deceased founder, Kim Il Sung. He is the grandfather of North Korea’s current leader, Kim Jong Un.
There is a wide range of emotions rocking the island. “Some people are not worried,” says Jacqueline Marzan, who lives in Dededo, a village on the northern end of the island. “But then there are a lot of people who say there can be only so many threats before something happens.”
Mike Blas, a former Guam resident who lives in Woodbridge, Va., says he has been worried about the island. “My mom is there and I have plenty of relatives there,” says Blas, president of the Guam Society of America, a non-profit based in Washington, D.C.
The Guam Homeland Security/Office of Civil Defense has advised island residents to have emergency supply kits that include nonperishable food, water and medicine. Officials also have advised residents to plan to shelter in place if there is an emergency. Sheltering in place means staying in a small, interior room, with no or few windows, during an emergency.
Marzan, a graphic artist, says she keeps an emergency supply kit just as she would for a typhoon, or tropical storm.
Antonio, a mother of two boys, says she stocked up on drinks and food as well as gathered important documents, such as passports. She adds that she keeps her cellphone fully charged and her car filled with gas.
The crisis has thrust Guam, tucked in the north Pacific Ocean, into the spotlight.
As the westernmost point of the USA, Guam is known for being “where America’s day begins.”
According to the 2010 Guam Census, the island’s population was 159,358. The indigenous people are Chamorros, and the official languages are English and Chamorro.
About 85% of Guam’s people are Roman Catholic, the CIA World Factbook reports.
“We have a deep belief in Our Lady of Camarin,” the patron saint believed to watch over Guam, adds Blas, a defense contractor. “She has protected us over various conflicts.”
Her statue, which is less than 3 feet tall, floated to the shores of the village Merizo escorted by two crabs carrying lighted candles more than 300 years ago, according to a local legend. Her statue has been kept in the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in the capital Hagatna.
Blas says, “God is not sleeping — he’ll be looking out for us.”
Payne, who reports for USA TODAY, is a former Guam resident. Her parents and brother live in the village of Dededo on Guam.
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