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But with a natural disaster like a landslide, my long “experience” seems to be just … equal to zero. In the 2020 landslide incident, I was almost the victim.
The phone call at dawn
At 2:00 a.m. on October 18, 2020, the phone rang, giving me the feeling that something was wrong. In fact, initially it was unconfirmed information, but it froze my spine: 22 soldiers from the 337 Division were buried in the rock.
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About 3 km from the site, all the vehicles had to stop because a large pile of dirt fell from the mountain, blocking the road … At this point, I started transferring images, clips and some content. to the newsroom.
Around 8 in the morning, I decided not to wait any longer and move on. Our team includes the army of engineers, the army in charge of the incarnation and various journalists. As we groped for the scene of the previous landslide, we walked in long lines, following the edge of the road and stepping on branches to keep it from sinking into the mud.
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Suddenly I heard shouts from outsiders: “Run! Run! “At the same time, overhead, I heard a roar. People ran for their lives, someone even stepped on me … I too ran away, when I looked back, I saw the rocks, the trees falling where I had just left, rushing into the abyss.
The incident nearly “split” our team, half turned around and half moved forward. It was the first landslide I ever witnessed, realizing that the god of death was only about 10 meters from me. It all took place for only about 30 seconds.
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In a panic, I texted the newsroom that I was in trouble. After 1 minute of silence, my phone rings continuously, all the advice, even the “orders”, ask: “Back off, no more …”. My ears were ringing, and in fact I couldn’t walk now. It took me several minutes to calm down. At that moment, I looked back to see that my backpack, camera … were covered in dirt, my hands and feet were ripped with blood. Neither did my colleagues, the army soldiers weren’t doing better.
Obsess
I was assisted by the leader of the Quang Tri Province Transportation Department to take the car to the TT.Khe Sanh more than 20 km from the place to rest. In the afternoon of the same day, when the PV group Youth Others (Mai Thanh Hai, Hoang Son) reinforce the scene, then I go home.
After facing death for the first time, I went home, opened the door, hugged my wife and children, and cried. That night, fear tormented me. Those horrible 30 seconds kept going back and forth in my mind, screaming “Run!” and rumbling footsteps, loud explosions … they keep sweating all over the body.
That night, I used to worry that tomorrow I would definitely not be returning to the scene at Division 337 … But then when I was sleeping, at 4:30 the next morning, there was a phone call from a highway driver. Long press release I have to go to Dong Ha bus station to get relief articles from the newspaper Youth. After all, when I had a quiet night, at 7:00 am the next morning, I was back at the scene of the incident in Division 337, alongside my colleagues.
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A senior in the profession once told me that, for journalism, there should be anti-trauma classes. Because journalists often have to witness terrible things, injustices, deaths, disasters … It will definitely affect journalists and mentally disturb them. But for me, I didn’t expect to get over that “shock” of sucking death so fast … so fast: only after 1 night did I go back to work. I realized that if people are busy, there is no time to think about terrible memories, when new jobs override old memories, everything happens easily …
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