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A specially trained team from the Greater Gothenburg Rescue Service was called in to help with rescue work after the major landslide that turned a residential area in Gjerdrum, Norway to mud on Wednesday night. Ten people were missing when the people of Gothenburg got the go-ahead to enter the area on New Year’s Day.
During the previous night, a temporary road had been built to the western edge of the avalanche so that rescuers could get there. With the help of large orange cellular plastic blocks, they then built a walkway into the area to reach some of the buildings that were swept into the landslide.
– The rescuers, our firefighters, created access for the police dog trainers this time. They then came back so that dog handlers could go out and search with the dogs, says Tomas Norberg, who is the task leader for the Swedish team called Uso, which is responsible for urban search and rescue.
Remains of houses and mud
When the dogs made their mark on Friday, it was the task of Uso’s team, along with their Norwegian colleagues, to search the area. With them in the avalanche area, they had tools like saws and cameras to be able to enter and search for cavities.
Vasilios Larsson, who works daily at the Mölndal fire station, was one of the rescuers who went to the rescue area.
– It was stuck in some places and in other places it was just mud, in combination with these different sections of the house and the debris from the houses made it a very complicated area, he says.
READ MORE: “It was the houses below us that collapsed that we heard”
Among the houses that were washed away by the avalanche were both terraced houses and apartment buildings, but it was difficult for the rescue team to decide what was in the mud in front of them.
– In some cases it was just a wall section or a roof section, so it was very difficult to understand what kind of house it was, mostly it was rubble and spikes, says Vasilios Larsson.
Gothenburgers have a special experience in how to move in these types of risk areas with them and also experience in different work environments as firefighters in the Gothenburg area.
– The feeling of wanting to help overcomes our own fear, so we are used to working in different risk situations. We just do it, says Vasilios Larsson.
READ MORE: Person found dead amid landslides in Gjerdrum
“Nice feeling of being able to contribute”
He was also present when they found one of the missing dead in the mud and rubble of the house.
– It feels great to be involved and help find one of the missing. The person was killed, but it’s still a nice feeling to be able to contribute, he says.
The area previously consisted of homes sloping down to a golf course.
– What we realized before starting the effort was that the risk area stretches for three kilometers. In the valley itself, there has been a landslide in several places, says Tomas Norberg.
The relatively newly formed task force packed their things into the rescue vehicles on Saturday morning to leave Norway shortly after breakfast.
– We have said that we can stay, but the Uso team is the national reinforcement resource of the National Civil Protection and Emergency Planning Agency and an official request must be made and is no longer requested. Now a Norwegian team is taking over, says Tomas Norberg.
Norwegian police announced during a press conference earlier that morning that a new team will arrive from Trondheim to assist Norwegian rescuers at the scene. They could also say that they are expanding the search area and still hope to find survivors.
READ MORE: Search continues for missing persons in Gjerdum landslides
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