Aberfan Disaster

General Chat In The News
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For those old enough to remember, today (October 21st) is the anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster.

Aberfan, in Wales, was a coal-mining community, and the slag and detritus removed from the pits were piled into great mountains surrounding the village. After several days of heavy rain, one of these slag heaps became so saturated with water that it collapsed under its own weight. A great avalanche of mud and rock slid at rapid speed into the village, engulfing everything before it. So rapid was the avalanche, nothing could be done and disaster struck, burying houses and in particular, the local school. 116 children along with teachers in the school lost their lives, as did some more adults in their homes.

I remember this incident like it was yesterday…

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And nobody stood trail.

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I remember it well. I was at uni when the news reached me and I could not believe my ears at first, but it was true :disappointed_relieved:

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A friend was at Cardiff University and a he , with a group of students, went to help with digging out the children. He told me it was the worst experience of his life! :sob:

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I can believe it - something like that never leaves you.

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I haven’t seen him for many years, but he would not tell me what he had seen as it would upset me.
I remember I was in the kitchen washing my hair ( my sister was in the bathroom) when I heard the report on the TV. I was so shocked that I forgot to turn on the cold water & burned my scalp. It still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it!

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I remember coming home from school and finding my mother crying. She held me very close, then told me what had happened. I would have been 10 years old.

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I can’t get post this link, but the photos and accounts of that day shown in it, gives an eerie insight of that day.

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I know one survivor, she lived a relatively normal life went to University, moved away from Aberfan, Married, had three children, had a very good life style nice house, cars, holidays

In her forties she was diagnosed as suffering Anxiety and depression, her mental health continued to deteriorate being admitted numerous times to hospital, robbing the family of a Family life……And still today she is the same.

Doctors, family and close friends can only speculate as to why she has mental health issues

I told a friend from Aberfan about this lady, he told me of another survivor who moved away, married, children, happy family then suddenly in her forties her story was the same

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Reminds me of this. Sometimes we push Mother Nature and she pushes back. Only thing is she pushes harder than we ever could.

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Such a terrible heart breaking tragedy

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Not to mention the cover ups and lies.

Its was common knowledge a mountain spring was where the Slag was dumped, although the authorities deny having/had any knowledge of this… many come forward saying they were told and knew of the spring…

This spring was probably the main factor causing the land slide

And all the monies donated and collected by the authorities, what happened to that, much of it was used to fund the clear up.

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I was 9 and I remember it was the first time that I really took in anything on the news on television.

Mum and dad were grim faced and mum was angry and thought that someone must be to blame, she reacted that way to tragedy

I was scared and couldn’t believe that something like that could happen to you in school and no one to help

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I live a few miles from Aberfan and it was on my 19th birthday it happened needless to say no celebrations that year

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I remember it well, such a tragedy never leaves you. We were glued to the news reports praying that every child they found would be alive.

Alas, it was not to be. Those poor, poor parents :cry:

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Yes so terribly sad one cant immagine the pain and the loss of the families . :two_hearts:

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A disaster of the first order. And one we will remember for the rest of our lives.

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I terrible man made disaster that should never have happened …

Alex Palmer was a 27 years old journalist and on her first major assignment for the Daily Express, this is the letter she wrote to her Mother describing what she saw, words can often say more than pictures :icon_sad:…
Aberfan

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If anyone believes Labour is at all interested in the welfare of ordinary working people they should read what Robens and the Wilson government were up to with the NCB.Thatcher gets the blame but they started it.

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