Disaster at Darwin
By “Awake!” correspondent in Australia
DARWIN, Australia, was a comparatively new city. Its population grew rapidly, from 8,071 back in 1954 to 43,000 last year. Though Darwin had survived 68 air raids during World War II, it died in a few hours on December 24 and 25, 1974. The killer was Cyclone Tracy.
When Tracy’s winds, which reached 150 and 200 miles per hour, finally subsided, 95 percent of Darwin’s homes lay in ruins. The storm left more than 50 dead and some 30,000 homeless.
Repeated Warnings Given
While cyclone storms (called hurricanes and typhoons in other localities) are quite common during the “wet season” in this part of Australia, they usually bypass Darwin. This, together with Christmas Eve festivities, apparently dulled the majority of Darwin’s residents to repeated warnings from the weather bureau of the cyclone’s fury. At least fifteen warnings were given, but few persons took them seriously.
Cyclone Tracy was unique. As it approached the city, the eye of the storm seems to have shrunk. This increased the ferocity of the winds and evidently produced some tornadoes with their characteristic funnels, for after the storm abated, a refrigerator was found lodged in a water tower about eighty feet high. Cyclones should not cause such upward movement.
Have you ever lived through a cyclone? Let us consider an eyewitness account of the disaster at Darwin.
“Safety Was the Only Thought”
“We expected that the storm would not hit until 4 a.m. and that the winds would not exceed 85 miles per hour. However, by 11:00 p.m. howling blasts were propelling raindrops horizontally. Quickly these winds reached 95 miles per hour.
“My wife and I tried to prevent the two inches of water on our floor from getting deeper by continually mopping it up and throwing it into the sink. No one could sleep, so our oldest daughter came out to help.
“As my wife returned to the lounge room from one of her trips to the kitchen sink, we heard a loud crash. The glass louvers in the kitchen window had blown in. If this had happened just a few seconds earlier my wife would have been badly cut.
“From now on safety was the only thought. I sloshed through the water to get my two youngest daughters from the bedroom. Both were terrified. We returned to the lounge room and the whole family crouched between two large armchairs, pulling up a third armchair for greater protection. We could hear crockery and pans blowing about as the wind played havoc in the kitchen. Then I noticed that the western wall of our house had disappeared.
“Suddenly there was a loud tearing sound. As the ceiling came crashing down, how thankful we were for the protection of those high-backed armchairs! The winds, now up to 120 miles per hour, kept tearing at what was left of our house. We prayed and talked together to keep our spirits up, all the time clinging to one another to make sure that no one had been sucked away by the wind. The hours dragged on. The water on our floor was several inches deep; but we dared not move around due to the mass of broken glass strewn about.
“Then things settled down. The eye of the storm had arrived.”
“Fiercer than Before”
“The letup was beautiful in a way, yet fear inspiring. The dark sky was ablaze with bluish lightning. Odd grotesque shapes loomed out of the lightning flashes. However, the roar of the circling winds, which sounded like an endless freight train, reminded us that the cyclone’s fury would soon return. And it did.
“Within a few minutes the other part of the cyclone hit us; and it was fiercer than before. This time winds snatched away all three of our protective chairs, leaving us fully exposed to the storm’s fury. We managed to pull up some sodden blankets, but these were of little help.
“When Tracy’s wind died down at about 6:00 a.m., I stood up cautiously and looked around. Had this been our home? I climbed over cupboards, fallen walls and timbers to get to the outside stairs leading to the ground. Underneath our house at ground level was a toolshed, laundry and a parking space. One by one I helped my family over broken furniture and under beams with protruding nails, until they were all safely in the toolshed.
“As I was by then shivering uncontrollably, my oldest daughter came up with some surprising advice: ‘Just relax and you’ll stop shivering.’ Much to my amazement, it worked. But after a few seconds I would start shivering again and have to repeat the process.
“Then we heard the voice of a neighbor inviting us into his house, which had remained essentially intact. There we gradually recovered from our state of shock.”
“Like Hiroshima”
As the stunned residents of Darwin crawled out of their hiding places, they could hardly believe their eyes. Not one traffic light remained standing. Steel H-shaped telephone poles were bent and twisted like licorice sticks. Violent winds had sandblasted sections of automobiles down to the bare metal. Some found that their cars had been blown nearly a mile from their homes or had sunk into someone’s swimming pool. Many vehicles had slammed against houses, demolishing them. And the hospital roof came off as fifteen babies were being delivered, though all of the babies survived. The prison, too, was destroyed, and about half of its inmates were given pardons.
“If you’ve seen pictures of Hiroshima after the atom bomb, . . . then you know what Darwin looks like,” commented a pilot who flew the first mercy mission into Darwin the following day. The acting Prime Minister declared the city a disaster area. Five thousand refugees soon sought shelter in a high school built for 1,100 students.
Health hazards were considerable, too, with some 43,000 persons lacking sewerage, electricity and water to drink. Lack of refrigeration added to the problem, for temperatures at Darwin usually exceed 90° Fahrenheit. In less than a week food that had been in cold storage or in supermarkets became so foul that workers had to put on some breathing apparatus before going in to remove it.
Large-Scale Evacuation Necessary
Shortly after the storm, people began crowding into airports. Persons wounded but able to walk were flown out first, then hospital cases that could be treated elsewhere. This opened up space in Darwin’s hospital for emergencies. Next went expectant mothers, elderly couples and families (wives and children only).
Within six days, about 22,000 persons were airlifted out of Darwin. Every flight was filled to capacity. One jumbo jet, designed to carry about 420 passengers, took more than 690 women and children to Sydney. On the return trip each plane carried some type of relief material. An estimated 6,000 left Darwin by road.
Jehovah’s Witnesses All Right
There were about 160 of Jehovah’s witnesses in Darwin. As soon as possible after the storm, a check was made on the welfare of all associated with their congregation. Witnesses that conduct group Bible studies were assigned to look up every member of their group. Eventually all were accounted for.
Witnesses from the Sydney area immediately arranged for purchase of supplies for their Christian brothers in Darwin. The Watch Tower Society’s Sydney office received more than $116,000 from fellow Witnesses all over Australia for that purpose.
A regular congregation meeting for Bible study was arranged for Sunday, December 29, only five days after the storm. How delighted everyone was when, just a few minutes before the program was to begin, two trucks arrived from the city of Mount Isa, one thousand miles away. The Watch Tower Society had obtained special permission allowing passage through the police lines blocking entrance to the city. Following the meeting, all on hand helped to clear the hall of chairs and to unload tents, cooking equipment, food and other items. After this the visiting brothers drove out to help with roof repairs on some badly damaged houses.
Basis for Some Serious Thought
The disaster at Darwin had a profound effect on its inhabitants. Interestingly, it brought people together who had been unable to get along for some time. An eyewitness reports: “Neighbours who had frozen each other out for ages became deep friends in a day. Married couples about to split became reunited.” Does it not seem strange that disaster must strike before many persons will treat others with human kindness?
Noteworthy, too, is the fact that a number of those interviewed by radio and television reporters said: “I could not believe such a thing could ever happen.” Fifteen separate warnings apparently fell upon deaf ears in most cases. How unwise to ignore warnings that come from a competent source!
For more than sixty years Jehovah’s witnesses have directed the attention of their neighbors to a “great tribulation” due to strike the whole earth within this generation. This will sweep away the present system of things and pave the way for a paradisaic new system of peace and righteousness. (Matt. 24:21, 34; Rev. 7:14; 21: 1, 4, 5) Why not let the account of the disaster at Darwin prompt you to take seriously the warning of this coming destruction by God? Doing so will help you to survive it.—Prov. 2:21, 22.