Man Woken Up By Sound Of Landslide, Flees To Safety
Sandeep Anand was sleeping when he heard a rumbling sound on Friday. He dashed outside and within seconds, his bedroom was filled with mud and debris from a landslide.
The 30-year-old declined to talk about his ordeal, but his father, Hari Dayal Singh, 56, of Verata near Nausori, said they were still in a state of shock. The concrete and wooden house they had been renting for 14 months was partially destroyed. The landslide was one of the 14 officially reported to Government up until yesterday morning, said Assistant Minister for Local Government, Infrastructure and Transport, Vijay Nath. He visited the family and asked for some time to provide assistance. The landslides were caused by heavy rain brought by Tropical Depression 04F. Mr Singh said he was at work during the time of the landslide. “My son was sleeping in his bedroom when the landslide occurred. It went through his bedroom and the back of the house,” Mr Singh said. “When he heard the sound of the landslide, breaking through the concrete walls of the house, he quickly got up and ran outside. “Sandeep ran out of the room to save himself right in time as it was just the matter of seconds when the loose soils filled up his room,” Mr Singh said. He said his son saw their new car pushed to their neighbour’s wall during the landslide.
“This is the first time we have experienced such incident which left my son and I in a worry of how and where we are going to live. “We cannot fix the car now as it is wrecked and we have lost everything in the incident,” Mr Singh said. Mr Singh is staying with a neighbour while Mr Anand is staying at a friend’s house in Suva. The landlord, Rajan Singh, 64, who lives in Nakasi; said he was shocked to see the house destroyed. “I grew up in that house and it hurts me seeing the house gone now,” he said. Mr Singh said he now had to dismantle the entire home and rebuild a brand new house. Edited by Jonathan Bryce