Sydneysider goes from dust storm to tsunami in one week
Thu Oct 1 19:13:26 EST 2009
Thu Oct 1 09:13:26 UTC 2009
SYDNEY, Oct 1 AAP - From Sydney's dust storm to Samoa's tsunami, Christopher Vandijk experienced both freak weather events in the space of a week.
The 24-year-old flew to Samoa last Wednesday, just hours after Sydney was bathed in red as thousands of tonnes of dust blew into town.
Mr Vandijk, from Sydney's west, went to Samoa for a wedding near the Samoan capital of Apia, on Sunday.
He called his mother in Sydney about 7am (AEST) on Wednesday to tell her he had survived disaster.
Authorities on Thursday raised the death toll from the tsunami and 8.0-magnitude earthquake in the Samoan islands to at least 148.
"He said: `Just in case you turn the TV or radio on, I wanted to let you know we've been hit by an earthquake," Christina Vandijk told AAP at Sydney Airport while waiting for her son to return on Thursday afternoon.
"We were pretty scared," Christopher Vandijk, clearly shaken, told reporters when he disembarked.
"I just want to go home.
"I don't want to say anymore out of respect for the people who passed away."
On the same flight was Iunita Tuiono, from the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa.
The city was not affected by the tsunami, but residents were evacuated.
"The tide came in, then went out," Ms Tuiono told reporters.
"It was moving in a circle."
She arrived in Sydney for a holiday planned before the tsunami hit.
"I'm happy I'm away from there," she said.
"I just hope it (an earthquake) won't happen again."
Radio broadcaster Pasematu Taunisila, also visiting Sydney for a holiday, said she had trouble contacting relatives on the island of Niuatoputapu, where a state of emergency has been declared.
"There's no communication," she said.
Annette Baldwin, a nursing executive officer with Sydney Adventist Hospital, had been with a team of 40 volunteer medical officers at Viaola Hospital, in Tonga's capital.
Ms Baldwin said 11 of the team were staying past their intended 12-day stay to fill in for hospital staff who had left to help in tsunami-affected areas of Tonga.
