Aberfan

Today is the fortieth anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, when a coal tip slid and fell upon a school in Aberfan, (see how it happened in that link), killing 116 children and 28 adults.  I can't comment on this, I don't know how to.  It's a loss of life I can't begin to comprehend.  116 children.  So new, so innocent to this world and they never had a chance to see it.  I've read that it was the result of negligence, that compensation for the loss of life is still forthcoming, but I don't think any amount of compensating funds can ever make up for a lost child.

Here are some photographs from the BBC:

   This is what the disaster looked like, in terms of mud slide.

This is the result.

And this is the reminder of lives lost.

Jaci Stephen elaborated on this disaster in a newspaper column of hers some time ago.  In a hairdresser's, courtesy of her mother, she'd felt the fraught response of all mothers in Wales.  I felt that too.  Ian Brady and Myra Hindley had brought to the Moors, Yorkshire and the UK the unthinkable;  but in Wales, we also had this.  Young Welsh children were never far away from the hem of their mother's coat due to these things, and for a good few years.

Innocent lives were lost.  Young lives.  Adult lives.  May they all rest in peace.

And I hope that we, the living, can learn and make sure that none of this happens again.

It takes time, and we falter, but please let us do the right thing.

Comments

[Debi]

I saw an article in the Indy in which 2 of the survivors spoke about the way in which the local people still hadn't begun to come to terms with this appalling horror. To the extent that one of them was strongly criticised for seeking psychiatric help in her teens! It's a taboo subject for many people still.

It seems the Coal Board fought hard to deny responsibility saying they didn't know about the stream that ran through the heap. Even though they could have had that info from an Ordnance Surevey map!!!

The compensation issue (though we all know money can't ever compensate for loss of life) was worse than insulting. One of the reasons the money was so low was that it was considered that working class people would not know how to deal with large amounts which could therefore do more harm than good!!!

Don't words sometimes fail you???

[May]

Very sad.

[Clare]

I think Aberfan was the first news item that I remember - my mother had tears in her eyes so I knew something dreadful had happened. I had no idea it was the fortieth anniversary today. Thanks CFR. It is important to remember these things, I think.