Little relives ‘terrifying experience’
Justice Minister Andrew Little says he feels ‘‘incredibly lucky’’ to be alive following the ‘‘terrifying’’ earthquake on Lombok Island, Indonesia.
Little was in a hotel during the magnitude 7 shake, which struck Indonesia late on Sunday.
At least 98 people died after the earthquake hit 27 kilometres north-east of northern Lombok at a depth of 14km.
‘‘Had it gone on for seconds more, I think that building may not have been standing today,’’ he said. ‘‘It was that bad.’’
Little recalled sitting in the top level of the hotel when the building started to shake.
‘‘I tend to give it a bit of time to wonder at what point you react,’’ he said. ‘‘And it got to a point where I thought, ‘This building is moving so much; there are so many noises. I’m not quite sure how much longer this building is going to hold up’.’’
There was then a violent shake, which caused the power to go out. Little said the room was pitch black, the shaking stopped, and the power came back on.
Little said he felt ‘‘incredibly lucky’’ to be alive, and was happy to be home, after what was ‘‘a pretty terrifying experience’’.
Hotel staff managed the evacuation well, guiding the delegation down the stairs through a clear evacuation route. On the way, they saw cracks in stair bannisters, and plaster that had broken off.
Once outside the building, the New Zealand delegation checked up on the Australian delegation, which included Australia Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Then the Australians and New Zealanders were taken to Lombok Airport in armoured police vehicles.
Along the way they saw chaos, he said.
‘‘Everybody was just trying to get away – thousands of scooters, cars. The police did a pretty amazing job just trying to keep it under control. They knew people wanted to get out of there.’’
Little evacuated Lombok on the private jet owned by a wealthy Indonesian.
Minister of Law and Human Rights of Indonesia Yasonna Laoly called a wealthy friend, asking for them to send their private plane, to evacuate him to Bali. Little said there were three spare seats on the plane, and he took one.
Dutton stayed behind, and flew out on his Royal Australian Air Force plane the next day.
‘‘I thought, ‘This building is moving so much . . . I’m not quite sure how much longer this building is going to hold up’.’’ Andrew Little