‘Absolutely harrowing’ Shock for couple after earthquake
DARIUS Brazdys has spoken of his horror at being caught up in a devastating earthquake in Indonesian that killed hundreds and left thousands homeless.
The 31-year-old and his 33-year-old partner Sarah Pates left their home in Tewkesbury last week for a holiday on the island of Gili Trawangan.
But while in the bedroom of their hotel at 6.47pm, a massive earthquake struck.
Darius, who runs two motor dealerships in Cirencester, said it had a magnitude of 7.0 and its epicentre was just 4km away, on the island of Lombok.
He said: “It was absolutely harrowing and will live with us forever.
“It gets dark early over there and it was pitch black outside.
“The whole room was shaking. It rocked, it was really quite scary. The lights all turned off and the water pipes split. It was quite something.
“The water in the swimming pool outside was slamming around from one side to another.” The couple ran out onto the balcony. Darius added: “It went on for what felt like a minute and then stopped. Then it was complete and utter silence before the hotel generator kicked in, some lights came back on and I could see the extent of the damage.
“For about five minutes, there were lots of aftershocks.”
He said local people, despite having their own problems, showed a remarkable amount of care towards tourists and they were advised to go up a small hill for their own safety.
The couple spent most of the night in darkness on the hill, having seen on their way there that people had climbed up trees in their panic.
Darius said some had fallen out of the trees and it was clear seeing people in bandages the next day that there had been injuries on the island.
He spoke of how there were 5,000 people on the hill and how they feared for a time that the earthquake might be followed by a tsunami.
But he stressed that his main reason for talking about what happened was to raise awareness of the plight of the local people, some of whom lost everything when their homes were reduced to rubble.
Residents were praying and screaming after the disaster struck but also took time to care for the holidaymakers, he said.
He plans to stage a marathon six-aside football event at Sir Thomas Rich’s School in Gloucester to raise money for the earthquake’s victims.
It will start at 3pm on August 25, last for 24 hours and probably an afterparty at a venue to be confirmed.
Darius said the couple wanted to raise £1,000 and people could donate online. To do so visit gofundme.com/ z3mg6-indonesia-lombok-earthquake.
He added: “Everybody is welcome. What we want to try to do is raise a little bit of money to send that way.
“The earthquake has completely devastated the island of Lombok and surrounding area.
“There are 150,000 people out of their homes. There were four earthquakes in a short space of time. They all lost everything.
“They were putting tourists first because it’s their industry.” robin.jenkins@reachplc.com