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Kløftabon Ingjerd Maurset has been in the news almost 24 hours a day since the landslide took place in the neighboring municipality of Gjerdrum. But on Saturday night, just before police announced that they had found another person dead in the landslides, he couldn’t hear anymore. Instead of sitting home alone with her thoughts spinning, she walked the 200 meters that separate her home from Gjerdrumvegen.
– I really wanted to go light a candle. I knew what I would find here. I hadn’t cried before, but here came the tears, says Ingjerd, wiping his cheek with his mittens.
A yellow ambulance passes by and is soon followed by another. This is the path used by rescue personnel and many residents of Gjerdrum. A few days after the landslide and following a call on a local Facebook group, flashlights of various shapes began to appear in the snowdrifts along the road.
“Realization comes upon you”
It’s cold and a snow plow truck passes without scraping snow or light. It is beautiful, but the cold makes the disaster worse, the chance of survival diminishes.
– You realize it and then it gets difficult, says Ingjerd Maurset sadly.
Emilie Eidevik was involved in lighting some of the first candles and has returned with her aunt Tonje Eidevik, as well as friends Nora Banne and Nathalie Hellesen.
– When we lit the first candles, a car came and nailed it. I thought they would scold us because we were close to the road, but it was the Gjedrum municipality president who thanked us and said that it was very good that we did this, says Emilie Eidevik.
“Absolutely unreal, horrible”
Emilie Eidevik has lit a candle right at the intersection, alongside her, other Kløfta residents have built snowball candle lanterns.
– It’s completely unreal, terrible, but it helps to see that we are together. I know many there. I want to show affection.
Nora Banne also knows people from the neighboring municipality and wants to support. Nathalie Hellesen also thinks of those who work day and night to try to find survivors and care for the dead.
– Rescue personnel drive through here, so we think it’s good that they have some light, he says.
READ MORE: The Gothenburg team on the discovery of one of the missing in Norway
Tonje Eidevik adds that, like the girls, there are many in Kløfta who know someone affected in the neighboring municipality. And she is not sure whether people who have been evacuated, but still have their homes, will want to return to the risk zone. In the midst of all the tragedy, Tonje has seen several great initiatives by people who want to support those affected.
– It’s good to see how people support it, it’s incredible, he says.
Many want to contribute
People outside the small municipalities north of Oslo also show compassion for the victims. It can be seen in various groups on social media where people want to donate both money and things to those who have lost their homes or do not have access to them.
Prime Minister Erna Solberg traveled to Ask on Wednesday afternoon to show her sympathy.
– It is a dramatic experience to be here and to see surveillance footage of the area and the entire landslide. And of course knowing that there are people who have not yet been denounced, he said during a press conference.
He also wrote on Twitter that “it hurts to see how the forces of nature have devastated Gjerdrum. My thoughts are with everyone affected by the landslide. “
READ MORE: “One of the fastest clay landslides of modern times”
READ MORE: Fifth person found dead after landslide in Norwegian Gjerdrum
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