The story of Vanuatu earthquake survivors

Article – RNZ

“I felt like my jaw was broken, and I looked down and saw blood on the concrete.”

Kuroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor

Vanuatu earthquake survivor Lester Lawani says he was centimeters away from being crushed in last week's 7.3 magnitude tremor.

“I saw blood on the concrete,” he told RNZ Pacific from his hospital bed.

This time last week, the 24-year-old college student was out Christmas shopping with his mother.

He said they had entered the Billabong store in the CBD when the quake struck.

“In the first two seconds there were really strong tremors,” Lawani said.

At the time, he said he wasn't sure what to do.

“At first I thought it was going to go away, but after three or four seconds I realized it was going to stay there for a while,” he said.

“And then I started wanting to get out of the building.

“There were two doors… I checked the first one… and it was locked. So we had to walk around.

“This was the normal door that everyone was running away from… but we couldn't run… and the vibrations were too strong, so we just walked.

But unfortunately we could not reach the door and then the building fell.

“There was a huge cement pillar that fell a few centimeters away from me.”

He said he and my mother had already fallen to the ground before the building collapsed, so when the roof fell, he fell on top of the cement column.

Luann lost consciousness due to falling concrete, which resulted in a broken jaw.

“The next thing I remember is waking up,” he said.

“I felt like my jaw was broken, and I looked down and saw blood on the concrete.”

He said he looked around but the lighting was dim.

“My mother was lying unconscious but safe…there was only some clothes from the store on top of her and maybe one board.

“Later she also regained consciousness…I asked her if she was hurt and she said ‘no’ but she was stuck.”

Lester Lawani said he later realized the space he was in was large enough for him to sit in, his phone wasn't broken and there was a tunnel up to where the store's windows were.

“But the main door was just a sliding door, and it was broken when the roof collapsed and a big heavy cement block was blocking our way out.”

He decided to crawl to the end of the tunnel where he could hear the people outside. He started screaming, but there was a lot of noise outside.

“I don't think anyone heard…so I started making phone calls.”

Lawani told RNZ Pacific the first person he was able to reach was his cousin, motioning to him near his hospital bed.

“And yeah, I told him where I was and who I was with and basically told him to go find help.

“You said we're stuck but we're right at the entrance, just send someone.”

As they waited, Lawani said he became more aware of other people also trapped in their part of the building.

“There was this cashier there too, but she was standing behind us on the wall.

“When the earthquake happened, she ducked under her table and when everything collapsed on her table it didn't break, so she just sat there.

“In her case it was pitch dark and she couldn’t see anything.”

Help eventually arrived, but it took 24 hours before search and rescue teams pulled them out of the rubble.

“They had to cut the concrete — because we were surrounded by concrete — so they were able to cut an opening so we could crawl out.”

Clinical Commander of Villa Central Hospital Emergency Operations Command, Dr Sal Tamata Vuruparavu, said that when Lawani was brought in he was covered from head to toe in white concrete dust.

His mother and their fellow survivor survived the ordeal with bruises, minor scrapes and “just a broken jaw.”

Lawani said that he continued to feel very afraid for several days after the earthquake, especially with the continued strong aftershocks.

But he believes he is past that now and said he is just focusing on physical and mental recovery.

“I am grateful that I survived such a tragic event and have my family around me supporting me.

“And that's something I'm grateful for. So now I'm just focused on recovering and moving forward.”

Luann has a keen interest in mechanical engineering and has won an Australian scholarship to study aviation management next year.

We finished our interview but Luann asked me to turn my recording device back on so he could personally thank everyone who helped with the search and rescue efforts.

“Yes, many thanks to the VMF (Vanuatu Mobile Force), Pro Rescue (Special Emergency Medical Uniform) and especially the New Zealand and Australian governments who have helped us through this time as well as all the others I haven't mentioned,” he said.

It's not over yet in Vanuatu.

As I am [Koroi Hawkins] Write this Another aftershock hits the city and rain disaster authorities fear it will fall on unstable ground properly.

The official death toll in the latest situation report is 14, and more than 2,000 people remain displaced.

The Disaster Management Office said the focus of the emergency response shifted to clearing landslide debris on the main road to Lapitasi Wharf.

It reported that 99 percent of roads have been restored, 77 percent of water supplies and 71 percent of electricity have been restored.

The state of emergency declared at the time of the quake was scheduled to end on Tuesday but could be extended.

Content sourced from scoop.co.nzOriginal url

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