Grateful to be alive
GRATEFUL to be alive, a canefarmer who was thrown a distance of 50m at the height of STC Yasa has thanked God for saving his life.
Sushil Chand, who was discharged from Labasa Hospital early this week, was inside his house when strong winds uprooted the whole building and threw it into a cane farm.
Scarred from injuries including a fractured pelvis, the 61-year-old man of Lovelove outside Labasa Town only remembers being lifted in the air with his house, falling to one side of the wall and lying in the cane field.
His son, Anil Chand, said they were in the living room on December 17 with other members of the family when electricity went off.
“So my dad went into the room to look for the torch while we remained in the sitting room and within minutes, a strong wind came and lifted the walls and roof of the sitting room,” he said.
“But in the room where my dad was, it uprooted the whole house because it’s wooden but where we were sitting, the floor is concrete.
“Then I got up to look for my dad but we couldn’t find him anywhere. So I took my mum and children and kept them under the house and my wife and I went to the cane field to look for my dad.”
When they got to the cane field, they found his dad lying under the debris.
“We helped him up and carried him to our temple with my mum and later kept them in a cane truck until morning. I then took my wife and children and we stayed inside the car until morning when the winds died down.”
He described the incident as a scary experience. Mr Chand is being assisted by relatives who have used the damaged housing materials to rebuild the house.
.... I took my mum and children and kept them under the house and my wife and I went to the cane field to look for my dad. – Anil Chand