Simelum beats nature’s fury
EFATE: Volcanic eruptions, landslides, earthquakes and cyclones − 76-year-old Lik Simelum from Vanuatu has survived them all.
He lives in a country that’s ranked by the United Nations University as the world’s most at-risk for natural disasters. But his story is remarkable even in an archipelago that has grown familiar with nature’s fury. It is also filled with sadness: His father and youngest brother were both killed by a landslide.
Mr Simelum survived yet another disaster this month when Cyclone Pam ripped through the South Pacific archipelago, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 17 people.
Mr Simelum’s outdoor kitchen was blasted to pieces and he had to sweep the water from his home from flooding, but he doesn’t seem too worried about all that.
Mr Simelum’s story begins when he was just 11, living on the island of Ambryn, in central Vanuatu. In December 1950, violent tremors began on the Benbow volcano, which then turned into a major series of eruptions that lasted for almost a year.
“I was frightened,” he said. “Sometimes during the day there would be a lot of ash going up and blocking the sun.”
The joint French and British government evacuated much of Ambryn, relocating his family to Epi Island.
He said the family was in Epi only a matter of weeks when a ferocious cyclone struck, just before Christmas 1951. News reports at the time indicate the winds sunk four ships and killed an unknown number of people.
Mr Simelum said the rains were so heavy they triggered landslides. One roared through his home in the middle of the night, killing his father and his brother.
His mother survived by clinging to the rafters of their home, he said, although she broke her back. Mr Simelum had been sleeping elsewhere that night, after his family had moved him for his own safety. He said his two sisters, who live near him now, were living on other islands at the time.
He said his mother was taken to a hospital in Port Vila and the two of them were relocated for a second time to a village on the main island of Efate, in the house where he still lives today.
He said he worked first as a teacher and later as a district education officer. His mother, he said, died peacefully from conditions related to her age.
In 1987, Cyclone Uma struck. It lifted the veranda from the home and flung it about 25m, he said.
Then, in October 2009, a powerful magnitude-7.7 earthquake hit Vanuatu. Mr Simelum said he ran outside during the shaking.
His low-lying village soon got the news: It was said to be about to be wiped out by a tsunami triggered by the quake so he and the others left, leaving everything behind, and ran up a nearby hill. But the tsunami never arrived and they were able to return.
Life was relatively peaceful for a few years until Cyclone Pam hit. Mr Simelum said he’s too old to repair his kitchen now and will leave that work to his children. But he said he expects to see more weather extremes.
“Climate change will cause more disasters to Vanuatu,” he said.