"Something horrible has happened"
Anna Lind Ragnarsdóttir is a native of Súðvík. She tells her story in an interview with mbl.is. mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
"I remember it vividly. As if it had happened yesterday. Incident by incident. It's just stuck in my mind and has always been there," says Anna Lind Ragnarsdóttir, a native of Súðavík, who experienced the avalanche in Súðavík 30 years ago.
Ragnarsdóttir will turn sixty-one in a few days and has been a teacher and principal in Súðavík for over 30 years. She was in her thirties when the avalanche hit the settlement on January 16, 1995, childless at the time and living with her husband, Garðar Sigurgeirsson.
Ragnarsdóttir is among those Morgunblaðið and mbl.is spoke to on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the avalanche that took the lives of 14 people, eight of whom were children.
Ragnarsdóttir herself was studying to be a teacher at the time and taught many of the children who died.
"I lived on Nesvegur Road and the house next to me was hit by the avalanche," Ragnarsdóttir says when she tells her story of the morning of January 16.
With the neighbors' paintings outside the kitchen window
"I got a call at half past six. The weather had been crazy and I was sure the principal was calling to say that nothing would happen to school that day. However, something else happened that day because it was my neighbor: "Something terrible has happened," he said to me. The couple had woken up to a crash and in the kitchen window I could see a painting from the couple who lived up the street and that's how I was woken up."
She says she immediately thought that this must have been an avalanche.
"At first, there was never any talk of anyone dying. Only if someone was found or injured, they were to go to a specific area inside the fishing factory." mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
"Soon afterward, a rescue worker came to our house and told us that something amazing had happened. There was an immediate panic and my husband was going to go out alone in this crazy weather, but it turns out that we all go. When we got outside, I immediately noticed that things and objects were lying everywhere. I paid special attention to the fact that there were children's things lying in between. Stuffed animals and toys that belonged to the preschool and immediately thought that something had happened there too."
People in shock
The trio made it through the weather and entered a building of flats in the town, but Sigurgeirsson and the rescue team member headed straight back out to carry out rescue work. There were a lot of people inside. Among them was a couple who had escaped from a house that stood just above the building of flats. The couple were there in their pajamas and barefoot. The man was injured, cut on his feet, and disoriented.
Some chaos ensued as rescue workers arrived at the scene. Photograph/Photographic Museum Ísafjörður/Halldór Sveinbjörnsson
"He didn't let anyone come near his feet at first. But I managed to convince him to let me look at them by talking gently to him. I knelt in front of him while he was sitting in a chair. It was difficult to make contact with him, but he stroked my hair and said I was good without saying anything else. Then we tried to patch him up as best we could."
Ragnarsdóttir says the man's reaction describes the experience of many of the people right after the avalanche. The shock and emotional turmoil was great. At this point, no one knew the extent of the disaster and the stinging uncertainty gnawing at people. Many were lost.
Relieved to have Doctor Þorsteinn in the area
After a short stay in the building, Ragnarsdóttir decided to go to the fishing factory where the village manager and some of the district committee were already there. Inside, work was being done to mark off an area, for the injured and other things.
"At first, there was never any talk of anyone dying. Only if someone was found or injured, they were to go to a specific area inside the fishing factory."
A man wearing his pajamas was soon brought in. The sounds in his body indicated that he had little life left, and an attempt was made to resuscitate the man.
"The men had to resuscitate the men who arrived because we women lacked strength," Ragnarsdóttir says.
No one had any special medical training, although some people did provide first aid and did their best to help people, as best they could. Despite the efforts of those present, the man was pronounced dead as soon as a doctor arrived on the scene when help arrived by boat from Ísafjörður.
"It was a great relief to have Þorsteinn (Jóhannesson) the doctor on the scene. He took a little control and told people what to do. You were grateful to feel that there were people there who knew what they were doing."
The weather turned bad
The fish factory was soon filled with rescue workers.
"Shortly before help arrived, I left the fish factory and offered to go out and search, with poles that we stuck into the snow. I couldn’t stand on my feet, the weather turned bad and it seemed that it took a man just to keep me standing. The weather was that bad. Apart from that, I saw nothing but snow. When I returned, the boat from Ísafjörður had come to help us."
Confusion and Despair
A lot of confusion arose in the fishing factory building and the situation became chaotic for a while, according to Ragnarsdóttir. Her role was to take messages to the mayor, Sigríður Hrannar Elíasdóttir, who was sitting in her office on the upper floor of the building as soon as the news arrived.
“I had to go through this confusion and there were still reports that so-and-so’s house had been hit by the avalanche. People were hanging onto me in desperation: “Have you found Mom? Won’t you tell me!” Everybody was looking for the people missing. There were both adults and children in complete disarray. Of course, no one there had any bad intentions and everyone was trying to make sense of the situation in desperation.”
Soon more people began to be found dead. New individuals were regularly reported to have been found dead or injured. The dead were taken to a new building in the fish factory building.
Ragnarsdóttir says that when she looks in the rearview mirror, everyone tried to do their best and it is difficult to say that anything could have been done differently after the avalanche subsided and until help arrived.
"I was asked to identify the bodies. I have no idea why Guðmundur Högnason and I were asked to do it, but that is how it was.” mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
Identified the bodies
At the time, Ragnarsdóttir was studying to be a teacher and teaching at the school in Súðavík and was one of two people given the role of identifying the bodies from the flood. Among them were children she knew and had taught. She describes the experience as surreal and horrific.
“The word trauma care hardly existed there at this time. Everyone does it differently. I was asked to identify the bodies. I have no idea why Guðmundur Högnason and I were asked to do it, but that is how it was,” she says.
Finally able to sleep on her birthday
The vast majority of the village was moved to Ísafjörður. Ragnarsdóttir was not among the first to leave, however. Those who remained were men who could work on rescue work and five women who were childless.
“We just had to sort out a few things, like food, and there were five of us who were hired to do that. The men were naturally hungry after having been out in the cold.”
Ragnarsdóttir with her children, father, and brother. In the picture, from left, Birta Lind, Elmar Atli Garðar's children, Eiríkur Ragnarsson, Anna's brother, Sigurgeir Garðarsson, Anna's father, and next to her is her eldest son Sigurgeir Garðarsson. Photo/Sent to mbl.is
She says that little to no sleep was obtained. There was no peace anywhere in the fishing factory. It was not until January 18 that Anna Lind, along with other women, was able to sleep in the school building, which is less than a kilometer away. It just so happens that it was Anna Lind’s birthday and she spent her 31st birthday there. They stayed at the school for a week before heading to Ísafjörður.
There were psychologists there who Ragnarsdóttir offered to meet with, and she thought it was good to be able to tell her story and express her feelings.
The psychiatrist and childbearing
“At that time, my husband and I had an appointment for IVF. We had an appointment in April, but a psychiatrist I met in Ísafjörður told me that I shouldn’t have it. He said it was too soon after this great shock. At first, I just said, “Okay,” and left him. But when I was almost out, I stopped and thought to myself, “There’s not some man from Reykjavík who’s going to tell me whether I should have a baby or not.” He had offered to talk to the doctors for me, so I knocked on his door and told him that whatever he thought, I was going to have IVF. He was adamant, but I didn’t care.”
Ragnarsdóttir ended up having IVF.
Not just sadness on the date
“And you know what! I got pregnant and the due date for the baby was January 16, 1996. Exactly one year after the avalanche. I am very religious and I look to God a lot if I need anything. I immediately decided to put something positive on this date. My brother's birthday is on this day and I thought to myself: "The pain has been great and the setbacks are many, but I am going to have a baby on January 16. There is a short span between life and death."
The baby had other ideas about its arrival date, though, and was born in November 1995.
"I choose to see the year 1995 as full of both joy and sadness," says Anna Lind. In total, Anna has had three children. "And the others are made at home," says Anna Lind and laughs.