With her baby strapped tightly to her chest and groping in the dark to escape a landslide, Veronica Loi was tested as no mother could ever imagine.
Her husband Wong Wai Foong and their 3-year-old daughter were nowhere in sight. All she could think of was saving the one in her arms. Veronica was desperately trying to get as far away and as fast as she could from the ominous rumblings that threatened a second landslide.
“I couldn’t turn back to look for them. I could hear my voice shouting to the others behind me to move faster as the rumblings got louder,” says the mother of two girls whose family and friends were caught in the Batang Kali landslide that killed 31 people three years ago.
That much-anticipated annual outing with family and friends (Veronica’s ex-school teacher, schoolmates and their families) turned into a nightmare that still haunts them.
Veronica tries to describe the rumbling sound many heard that signalled trouble. “I heard a noise when I got up to check on my baby (10 months). I had a glimpse of her and went back to sleep when I heard the rumbling noise. My first reaction was to carry my baby.
At the same time, my husband was awakened and he immediately picked up my elder daughter and carried her.”
“A loud voom sound gushed past us…then it felt like the world stopped. We were both dumb founded when the sound was approaching. In our minds, we were deciding whether to stay inside the tent or to go out. We knew something was wrong.
“We knew that whichever move we made, our fate would lie there. As we were contemplating what to do, there was total silence,” Wai Foong adds.
When they lifted the flap of the tent, the scene outside was a complete annihilation. A thick layer of mud buried or partially buried many tents.
Veronica could see some people from her teacher’s tent had come out. There was another tent where mud had already covered half of it. We called out to them, but there was no response.”
“It was very strange that there was no reverberation to our shouts. It just sounded dead. We didn’t know if our friends were ok. After a while, I saw someone crawling out of their tents. My friend’s brother and his family were saved by a trolley inside the tent that prevented them from being buried by the mud. The trolley created a space for the couple and their 18-month-old daughter to crawl out,” says Wai Foong.
He heard the teacher and her daughter shouting for help as her husband’s leg was trapped under the mud. As Wai Foong dug into the dense mud trying to free the man’s leg, he felt the effort becoming increasingly futile as he got tired and his fingers were hurting from being cut by rocks.
“But I couldn’t give up. I didn’t have the heart to walk away. And I’m glad I didn’t,” as he finally managed to dig deep enough to allow his leg to wriggle out.
Wai Foong still remembers vividly a young boy waiting quietly while his mother set up a tent in front of their tent. “It was a very heartwarming scenario of the mother and child camping and doing things together. The tent was now buried under the mud.
“But I was eager to try and see if I could rescue them. By then, a friend had joined me, and we found a hoe. As we began to dig, the ominous rumbling sounded again. We had no choice and dropped everything to rush to a safe place, but we didn’t know where my wife and children were.”
He recalls the quick chat in the tent with his wife: “We decided that my wife should take the children to safety while I try to rescue whoever I could.”
In pitch darkness, Veronica took her daughters and other survivors to safer grounds. She was joined by others who came from another site, and together they tried to look for a small path that could lead them out of that area, as mud had blocked the main entrance.
While looking for the small exit, they heard the rumblings a second time. I kept running forward even though it was very dark, and my elder daughter and husband were behind me, but I didn’t know how far back or where they were.
“I just called out to the rest to run quickly! I couldn’t think of turning back to look for my husband. I needed to save myself and the child that was with me,” says Veronica.
“When we arrived at the safe place, we did a head count and everyone was there, I was relieved.
“It was very cold. There was finally phone reception. We managed to call BOMBA, knowing that a report had been made and the rescue team was on their way.”
In a situation that is so dire and seemingly hopeless, Wai Foong mumbled a vow to himself, “I told myself if I should survive this disaster, I would do everything I could to do good for others. The same night we returned home, we couldn’t sleep. We wondered why, over and over again, our lives had been spared. We finally concluded that we survived because we have unfinished business, and that is to help the rest of the survivors and their families.
“We supported them and helped them during the grieving process.”
As emotions in recollecting the tragedy winds down and in silent submission, the couple states “this is our second chance at life”. And they found saving grace in the friends they have made among the rest of the survivors. It’s almost 3 years now since the tragedy, Veronica still feels separation anxiety whenever she is away from her daughters.
“I feel uneasy when I am away from them, fearing that something may happen to them. Every time I say goodbye to my kids, I wonder if this will be the real goodbye.” Veronica has consciously shut out thoughts of the tragedy since returning home.
She has resigned from a full-time job to care for her daughters, and being among the survivors has also impacted her perspective on education for her children.
“In seeking justice for the victims and survivors of this tragedy, we have come to realise the need for the next generation, like our children, to know how to handle a situation like this one, how to survive and how to seek justice,” Veronica says.
Both of them are grateful to another couple TS Loh and Tan Ei Ein, who lost their son in the tragedy, for initiating a support group and starting the procedure in seeking legal recourse.
“Many people are still camping and if this tragedy is caused by an error in the system we want it to be corrected to prevent something like this from happening again. If it is not then we will fight against whatever the reason given,” Wai Foong adds.
