‘I don’t want to die alone’: Limerick woman witnesses trauma of Indonesian earthquake

A LIMERICK woman, who witnessed the traumatic Indonesian earthquake, has spoken of how she fled the catastrophe that claimed almost 100 lives.

Colleen Garry, a primary school teacher in Dublin but originally from County Limerick, was on the island resort of Lombok, east of Bali, when the fatal quake hit.

A mass exodus of thousands of islanders occurred following widespread fears of a tsunami. So far, 98 people have been pronounced dead.

Colleen had plans to spend a number of days in Lombok before meeting with friends in Gili Islands.

On Sunday evening, when she went to dinner, the earthquake struck the island.

She told TheJournal.ie that she ran into the middle of the road to avoid street lamps and trees which were “violently shaking”.

“Everyone was screaming and ran out from the restaurants. It was so scary. Then it stopped and for a moment everything was calm and locals came out of the mosque and said everything was OK. So I continued to walk towards the beach when all of a sudden dozens of motorbikes started flying past me.”

“I was terrified and started sprinting. I’ve never felt fear like that before. All I kept thinking was ‘I don’t want to die alone’,” she said.

A local man picked her up in his car and she later contacted her parents via a phone belonging to one of the women she was with in the car.

They later waited on a hill to be safe from the tragedy and later headed into town with other people.

“There was a real sense of community. A lot of people were hungry especially myself and the German girls. A local cafe was giving out vegetables and potatoes. We were very grateful.”

She told TheJournal.ie that she was going to get a slow boat to Bali this week, as all ferries are currently not running.