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People across the country send clothes, toys and furniture to the avalanche victims. Finally, evacuees Ragnhild Olstad (78) got something more to put on their legs than rubber boots.
Evacuated Ragnhild Olstad receives help from her granddaughter Mari Olstads Karlsen to choose new and used clothes. Donations from all over the country are collected here. Photo: Dan P. Neegaard
In one corner are rows of children’s suits and winter jackets. In the other piles of tube cheese, soda and chips. Board games, dolls and lots of stuffed animals. And look there! Red Cross teams come through the door pulling a cute pink cot sent by courier from a donor somewhere in eastern Norway.
The Holter room in Nannestad township, just under two miles from downtown Ask, looks like a solid second-hand market. I mean, a lot here is also new. The living room has become the new heart of the joy of giving after the disaster of the landslide.
– One word: impressive, says the leader of the Red Cross of Gjerdrum and Nannestad, Øyvind Ordemann to Aftenposten.
Since the disaster, the demand has been enormous from people who want to help. The pressure on the evacuation hotels became so great that they had to establish a separate headquarters: the corps house in Nannestad. Then it also became too small.
New home to sleep. Red Cross volunteers bring one of many donations to the Holter sports hall, just under 20 km from Gjerdrum. Gifts flow from all over the country here. Photo: Dan P. Neegaard
Volunteers sort clothes, food and objects and distribute them to different stations in the hall. Photo: Dan P. Neegaard
Øyvind Ordemann is the head of donation distribution for the Red Cross. He’s a busy man. Photo: Dan P. Neegaard
Hemsedal Socks
About 1,000 people remain evacuated. Both police and NVE said Saturday morning that ongoing assessments of the evacuation zone are underway. On Saturday, the rescue operation is in full force. Police say they are still looking for survivors. So far, two have been found dead in the area of the landslide. Eight to go.
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New person found dead. I hope to find survivors in airbags.
The Holter IF room has now been used to assist evacuees. New boxes and bags of clothes and toys, food and detergent, shampoo and deodorants come in every minute.
A man called from Bergen and announced that he was on hold with the car loaded with appliances and furniture. From Hemsedal recently came a party with knitted socks and hats.
– People from all over the country want to contribute. What we need most now are outdoor toys for children.
– Why do you think there is so much desire to give?
– Close to. The disaster was so closely experienced by many.
And many need absolutely everything. The Red Cross has organized it so that those affected, their families and friends can come and get what they need.
Large quantities of food, toys, clothing, and sanitary items arrive in this room. Photo: Dan P. Neegaard
“Choose until you are ashamed”
Among them is Ragnhild Olstad (78). Three days ago he had to leave his house in Nystulia in the middle of the night. In the chaos of helicopter headlights and people in yellow vests, he had to evacuate in rubber boots and a coat.
– I thought it was terror, she says.
But everyone around her loved her well. The messages were still brief. Outside!
As for so many others: everything had to be dropped.
Just over three days later, he stands between the shelves on the temporary carpeted floor along with his granddaughter Mari Olstad Karlsen (31). In advance, they have received a clear message from the head of the Red Cross, Ordemann: “Choose until you feel ashamed. Then choose a little more.”
And Olstad obeys. The bags are full of shoes, clothes, hairbrush, and toiletries.
– The whole situation is “boring”. But this offer is absolutely fantastic, says Olstad, who has a house 200 meters from the edge of the avalanche. He lived for a time at the Olavsgaard Hotel, but eventually moved home with his family. Olstad has no idea what the future will bring now. Will you ever go home? And possibly they will sell it? Big questions swirl chaotically and strangely in the air.
But in the short term, the plan is concise and concrete. During the week, you will volunteer and distribute food for those in need at the Ask center.
– I would love to have something else to think about, she says, holding up beige pants. Thinking and considering a little.
– And then I must have something to wear!
Give and take
Give, contribute, provide. Is it the typical Gjerdrum? Many people believe it. The day that another find of a dead person in the ruins made the backdrop even darker if possible, many were also concerned about the village’s self-sufficiency.
Unit. Community. The burning soul mentality. They all buy from the same store. When they turn off, they literally feed each other. The House of Culture, which has become the formal center of the disaster, was once built on a voluntary basis.
– In Gjerdrum, there is a strong tradition of volunteer work, local historian Håvard Kongsrud told Aftenposten on New Year’s Eve.
When a tragedy occurs, perhaps the same mentality becomes the counterforce in the village. Or survival strategy.
– This is too big an event for such a small municipality, says Mayor Anders Østensen (Labor).
– That is why it is also extremely important to receive help. At all levels, adds the mayor.
He is moved, proud and happy for the great joy of giving.
– It shows us that people feel very affected. The environment cares. And is very cute.
Dugnadsbygda
The cliche of taking one day at a time has rarely been truer than now. But on the hillside above the landslide site, which has become a kind of sand for reflection and vision, people cannot free themselves from the same thoughts as Ragnhild Olstad: do the people of Gjerdrum manage to rebuild what the forces of nature took them away? What happens in a week, a month, a year? Can they “take back the town”?
Or as Gunn-Karin Zakkariasen says from the heights this winter Saturday, two days in a year that began so black.
– We were volunteer workers. Then suddenly we became the fast clay town.
