by Dawn Millen
We walk slowly back to the fire truck with me answering his questions and explaining that I had been searching throughout the day before and today and had only found the two of them alive. We resolve to give it another twenty four hours of searching here and then to drive to the next town to see if there are others there who have survived.
Chapter 5
We head for the supermarket, where I walk through the shattered window and head down the shop to pick up nappies and baby food for Caren and more supplies for Rhys and myself. I also pick up long life milk, more bottled water, soups and tinned goods, more dog food and first aid supplies. We just don’t know what we will encounter along the journey and I feel that we need to be prepared now for any eventuality.
Next visit is to the pharmacy where I break open the dangerous drugs cabinet for medications, then I pull baby bottles, and other supplies off the shelves and place them into the Fire Truck. I have decided that this is going to be the vehicle that will be the best for us to use due to its high clearance.
I visit the hardware store and gather jerry cans for fuel and water if we can find an uncontaminated supply and also grab a tent, mattresses, torches, spare batteries, fishing rods and many other things that may come in useful during our travels to find out if we are the only survivors of the quake.
During this time the aftershocks continue and I run often from the buildings as they shake and quiver around me. My fear now is that I will be injured by falling debris and will not make it out of here alive. I need to live now and help my friend with his child.
Dusk finds us returning to the Emergency Service Compound and our base; the dogs are let off to have a run and then fed and settled for the night. Puppy is not tied up, but curled up at our feet watching over Caren who we have made a bed for in a drawer lined with blankets. She is now content, clean, dry and fed.
The sun sinks slowly beyond the horizon, colouring the sky with reds, oranges and purples as it reflects against the clouds of dust in the air from the earthquake. Rhys and I sit in the gathering darkness talking quietly and cry together. Both of us are still shocked by the devastation caused by the earthquake and the lack of human life to be found after it was over. Rhys had a slight cut to his forehead and a large lump on the back of his head where the roof caved in, but after some first aid for his cut and some food he is starting to work through the initial shock and horror. We talk late into the night and watch the stars pop into view in the velvet blackness of the sky. The moon sails across the heavens as if nothing had changed in the world.
But things had changed; nothing would ever be the same again for the tiny township of John Creek or for Rhys, Caren and I. Our world as we knew it ceased to exist and from the devastation of this life we now had to rebuild.
During all this time I had the radio on and there was nothing except static on the airwaves until…….
Chapter 6
0230 hours and suddenly the comforting static was broken by a voice, Rhys and I jumped to our feet and rushed to the radio.
“Is anyone there?” a small, frightened voice called over the air
I keyed the microphone and replied, “This is Jenny from John Creek, who are you and where are you?” I asked.
“My name is Robin and I am scared.” The voice replied, “Mummy and Daddy are in the bedroom and I can’t get in and they won’t talk to me, my sister Tammy is crying too, but I gave her a bottle.” The voice went on.
“Can you tell me where you live, Robin?” I asked. “What are Mummy and Daddy’s names?” I looked at Rhys and got a nod that he may know who this was and the parent’s names would confirm it for him.
My heart was in my throat as I waited for Robin to reply, with all the stranger danger warnings I was so worried that Robin would not tell us where they were and who they were. We needed that information to be able to help them.
“Mummy’s name is Marie and Daddy is called Scott. We live out on the road to the big waterhole.” Was the reply after a few seconds of waiting.
I looked at Rhys and we both spoke at once, the Johnstone’s over on Big Creek Road. It was a lonely and isolated property and those children were just small. Robin was six years old and had just started in school and Tammy was two. We had to get out there and check on what has happened to the parents and bring the surviving members of the family back into town with us.
“Robin, do you know Mr Jones at the shop in John Creek?” I ask him. When he tells me that he does know Rhys I tell him that Rhys, baby Caren and I will be there soon to help him and Tammy. I also tell him that he is doing such a good job looking after Tammy that Mummy and Daddy would be very proud of their big brave boy. I tell him to curl up with Tammy and that when he wakes up Mr Jones and I will be close to where he is. I also tell Robin to call out on the radio if he wakes and is scared and Mr Jones and I will answer him.
Rhys and I know that we will have to wait for daylight to drive the 10 miles out to the Johnstone farm as it is too risky to drive the roads in the dark after the earthquake. So we settle down to doze for the next couple of hours. Rhys did remind me that we would need baby seats for the vehicle for all three of the children too and we would have to find them when we woke in the morning. He did know where there were cars with the seats so we would just go and get some. With that we dozed off again to wake with the sun and drive out to the farm to find Robin and Tammy.
Chapter 7
We woke early and ate a hurried breakfast, feeding and changing Caren between us and then went to find car seats for the children. Then off to face the drive to the farm.
It took two hours to drive the ten miles to the farm due to many trees down on the road, the quake sand bogs and crevasses in the road. We had to take many detours and much rough driving was encountered before we pulled up in the front yard of the half destroyed farm house.
Robin and Tammy rushed out of the door both of them excited to see the fire truck, but also very worried that they were unable to wake their parents. Rhys and I reassured them that we would go look at Mummy and Daddy for them and try to wake them.
We left the children on the shady side of the house away from the building and the trees as the ground had started to shake again and we were worried, but we had to check on Marie and Scott. Robin promised to look after the two little girls for a short time while we checked on Mummy and Daddy and they were content with a packet of biscuits from the truck and bottles of water.
Rhys and I walked around to the side of the house where the Johnstone’s bedroom was half caved in and peered through the broken windows. There they were, both Marie and Scott, still in their bed, but all we could see was their feet. A huge beam had come down over both of them and crushed them both to death. There was no hope of them surviving. Rhys and I with tears in our eyes walked sadly around the house to tell the children that Mummy and Daddy could not wake up, but that they could come in the fire truck with Rhys, Caren and I. That we would look after them was understood by both Rhys and I as these were children from our town and they had no one else. We were now responsible for ourselves and three very young children.
Another two hours sees us safely back at our base and the children settled quietly playing with Puppy while Rhys and I are planning a last drive around the township before our final night here and then the drive to the next town.
This plan was revised and re revised several times over the day during breaks from checking for further signs of life. There were none to be found, however. It was a dispirited crew who finally fed the children and dogs and settled them down for the night.
Tomorrow would bring new challenges, some we would face head on and some we would gladly not have to face at all and would turn tail and run from them. For now we needed to rest and restore ourselves to face the journey ahead.
Chapter 8
The 4th of January dawns hot and dry again and we rise, feed the children and the dogs and pack up the fire truck to start our journey to the next town. It’s going to take some time to travel the
fifty miles between towns with the damage to the roads from the earthquake, but this is a journey that has to be made. There have to be other survivors out there and we need to find them.
Banding together with others is going to mean that we will be stronger and hopefully we will find others with skills in many areas and be able to form some sort of community.
With the children settled into the cabin of the truck with the dogs, we set off after one last look at what was left of the town where we used to live. Unrecognisable now as John Creek, just a pile of twisted debris with a pall of dust still hanging in the air, thickened a little with every after shock that rumbles through the ground. We were getting used to the frequent rumbles and the sounds of rubble shifting each time and had learned to navigate around the broken township. Now it was time to move on to Smithtown.
Smithtown, population 5,000, lies due east of John Creek and is the main service centre for our rural area. Shops, schools, a hospital and a small airport bring people from the surrounding smaller towns and villages there to resupply and Rhys and I are hoping that others have been able to make their way there.
The drive to Smithtown was slow and we had many stops to clear fallen trees and many diversions across the paddocks to avoid crevasses and sand bogs that had blocked the road. There were fences down everywhere and cattle and sheep wandered the roads causing further dangers to vehicles. Five weary hours later we see the township ahead and things look no better here than at John Creek. The dust pall is bigger and there is smoke mixed into the dust from burning buildings. The destruction is on a massive scale with hardly any buildings untouched, so many have little left standing and the fires have burned through great areas of the township. The suburban sprawl and smaller blocks of land mean that once the fires started it jumped from house to house very quickly.
We can see the hospital sitting atop the hill in the centre of town and it looks relatively undamaged, just a few shattered windows and some of the brick façade has fallen from the clock tower at the top. As most of the frontage is covered with a vine it is possible that the damage is worse than we can see. The vines may be hiding it from view. We will know more when we get to the building. It is the first place we will head for as it would be a refuge for the injured and for those assisting them. I just hope that there are others here who have survived.
Pulling up on the front lawn of the hospital we see that things are not as intact behind the façade as we thought, but that there is movement and life in the building. The automatic doors are wedged open just enough to get a stretcher through and inside the casualty department there are people milling about. Not many people and most have bandages on their bodies covering the wounds from the quake. Shock and confusion abound around the department and the staff members are overwhelmed by the number of people who have injuries that they are unable to treat. The theatres are damaged and there are so few personnel to perform surgery. With only three Doctors and six nurses left and over two hundred survivors with injuries ranging from minor to major there is little hope of being able to save everyone, and so many will not survive today or the days to come. I help where I can throughout the day. My old skills coming to the fore, I tend to minor wounds, check on drips and give pain medications. I do find myself present at the deaths of so many we are unable to help as they succumb to their injuries, the only help we can give them is pain medication so they do not suffer unduly. Sadness rules the memories I will carry of this day, closing the eyes of small children for the last time, seeing mothers and fathers crying for those already lost or for those who will be lost, it breaks my heart. Soon I am weeping too, along with the grieving community, grieving for them, for the friends I have lost and for myself and the life that was and will never be again.
In the meantime Rhys has found somewhere to set up camp and has pitched the tent and settled the children. The area is a cleared grass lawn close to the hospital, but with no buildings close and no trees. Ever mindful of the aftershocks, he has chosen well. The dogs are tied to the fire truck, one on each of the two sides, at the rear and the house dog is in the cabin. This will prevent others from taking what little we have, which is little enough to survive on for a few days and we do not know when we will be able to get more supplies. We are hoping that the government is able to help, but nothing has been heard here at Smithtown as to other survivors. We presume that we are on our own and take precautions to ensure that we can keep the children safe and the supplies as intact as possible. We will share with others, but under our own terms and not surrender to pressure. The dogs will be a good deterrent to those people who believe that they have the right of strength and might during these situations to take from others.
As darkness falls we huddle around the tent, talking about what we have seen and done during the day and wondering how many have survived in other towns and villages throughout the country. We are now four days out from the quake and no contact from outside our area has been heard and survivors are trickling in slowly from the outlying villages to Smithtown. Yes, there are survivors, pitifully few though and most are injured, many are actively grieving the loss of family members and friends and everyone is in shock. That shock makes us all vulnerable at the moment and I wonder to myself how vulnerable we are, Rhys and I, three small children and four dogs.
Chapter 9
As the stars begin to sprinkle the sky we settle for the night, curled up with the children and puppy in the tent. Rest is very necessary for us now, it feels safer here, but how much safer I do not know. My thoughts run through the day as I compose myself for sleep. Visions of what I have seen, done and experienced over the last few days dance behind my closed eyelids and sleep is slow to come, but come it must as my weary body craves rest and recovery.
Sometime later I awake and scramble out of the sleeping bag as I hear a low growl from Girlie who is tied to the fire truck. Ever alert, she is telling me that someone is around. There must be men around too as Girlie is one dog that cannot abide men due to abuse when she was young. I quietly move towards the flap of the tent and peer out. Hearing a rustle behind me I glance back and see Rhys also getting out of his sleeping bag. I signal for him to remain quiet until we know what is going on.
Girlie, Duke and Buster begin to bark and I decide that I have to expose myself to whoever is outside and find out what is going on. I quietly open the flap up and step out into the cool night air. Glancing left and right trying to detect movement in the darkness.
Over to the left I see five people walking towards our tent and they are carrying bundles in their arms. I can make out the figures of three men and two women and the bundles carried by four of the adults are small children wrapped in blankets and the other young male is carrying food and water for them. My eyes blink once or twice and then I recognise one of the figures as my friend Krystal, her partner Raymond, and their children Steve, Sandy and Thomas. With them are Paul and Sandra with little David and Carol. Friends, good friends and they have survived. My heart overflows and tears are running down my face as I run to help them with the children and hug and hold my friends. We are a bigger band now, but we are together and stronger for it.
Krystal and I nursed together many years ago and she was up at the hospital and had heard that there was a retired nurse from John Creek arrived with others today and took a chance on it being me. Raymond and Rhys are old friends who went to school together and although their lives had taken different tracks had always kept in touch. Krystal’s friends Paul and Sandra and their children had also survived the earthquake as both families had been camping down at the lake near Smithtown and had been sheltered by canvas, had they been at home it is doubtful that anyone would have survived as both houses were totally destroyed and one had been consumed by the fire that had raged through the western quarter of the town.
Our band of adults now consists of two nurses, a shop keeper, Raymond who is a mechanic, Paul is an engineer and Sandra is a designer of beautiful clothes. The children, eight in all now, range i
n age from 14 year old Thomas down to tiny six month old Caren. Out of the darkness Raymond’s dog, Jet, appears and a great amount of tail sniffing and wagging starts among the dogs. A reunion is soon underway and stories of survival are swapped and questions asked and answered as we find out what has happened to other friends, family and people in the business community. The fate of many of our friends is uncertain, but then we expected that from the damage we have seen and we sadly conclude that many of our friends just did not make it out of their homes as the earthquake struck.
We shuffle around the children in the tent and settle them for the night. The adults huddle outside the tent and the talking and comparing of experiences continues. We tell of the earthquake and the fear that we felt, the aftermath and our first impressions of the devastation. Then the tears come to us all as we talk about the searches we made through the rubble of our towns and the lost friends and family and the loss of our lives as we knew them. This night is for sharing our sorrows, talking through our grief and for building bonds within our group. Those bonds will be strong, lifelong and will carry us into the uncertain future that is now such a part of our world.
Chapter 10
As we talk the stars and moon wheel across the sky and the first streaks of daylight appear on the horizon. A new day begins amongst the devastation wreaked by the earthquake and what it will bring is a mystery and one that will be solved in the coming hours. We sit on the hill top and watch as the first rays of the rising sun pick out the rubble piles that were once homes and shops; we watch the dust rising along the sunbeams. Smoke still hovers in parts of the town, less now as the fire has consumed most of the combustible materials and smoulders in small areas. Starving pets wander in and out of the wreckage of homes looking for the families who have always fed them and not understanding where they have gone or why. The sight of all of this silences the conversation and we just sit and stare at what was once a thriving township in the dust filled outback of Australia.
